Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Methane Combustion Combined with Biodiesel in Dual Fuel Mode

Abstract

The present work investigates experimentally and numerically the combustion of methane coupled to biodiesel and diesel in dual fuel mode. The engine used is a single-cylinder Lister-Petter_01005299_TS1 modified for bi-fuel operation with a pre-chamber in the intake to allow methane to enter with the air. For this, we use three distinct fuels, conventional D100 diesel, B100 biodiesel and methane. The first two fuels are first burned independently under the same conditions independently under the same conditions using the double Wiebe phase. The numerical results obtained of this first combustion of B100 and D100 compared to the measured results show an agreement of 2% and 1.07% respectively for biodiesel and diesel allowing the validation of the numerical code. Next, we add methane to the air during the intake phase for the previously tested D100 and B100 fuels used as a pilot fuel in order to observe the impact of methane on cylinder pressure, nitrogen oxide emissions and heat release. The combustion model used is a two-zone 0D, one representing the burnt gases and the other the unburnt gases. The results showed a decrease in cylinder pressure and a large reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions of about 26.67% and about 48.76% when burning B100 biodiesel at medium load. The results also showed that the addition of methane to the air reduces the overall heat release of both fuels around TDC by 10.76% and 5.4% for biodiesel and diesel, respectively. But that in the diffusion phase, dual fuel combustion shows a higher heat release for diesel. It was also observed that peak pressures were reduced by 2.35% in the case of diesel compared to 7.45% for biodiesel.