Minerva Elements Records

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    Performance of a spark ignition, lean burn, natural gas internal combustion engine
    ABBASI ATIBEH, PAYMAN ( 2012)
    Relative to gasoline and diesel, use of natural gas as a transport fuel can produce significantly lower emissions of particulate matter and greenhouse gases. Future emission standards for commercial transportation, combined with projections in transport demand and gas and oil production, are resulting in increased interest in natural gas use in road vehicles. Lean-burn, natural-gas fuelled spark ignition engines have particular potential in terms of both regulated emissions and increased thermal efficiency. This work therefore first presents a comparison of an engine’s performance fuelled with gasoline and natural gas. Particular emphasis is placed on the natural gas engine’s lean burn behaviour. Analysis of the in-cylinder pressure traces for the natural gas engine is then undertaken. This analysis is used to explain how the observed variations in emissions and efficiency of the natural gas engine vary with air/fuel ratio via the turbulent flame propagation. In particular, it is argued that the commonly observed optimal efficiency at a given lean condition is due to a trade-off between reducing heat losses and increasing flame quenching with increasing air/fuel ratio.