Low Temperature Combustion and HCCI Combustion – Ignition Studies of Alternative Fuels
Supervisors:
Prof. Andre Boehman, Department of Energy & Geo-Environmental Engineering
Student: James Szybist
Objective:
To understand the variation in ignition characteristics of alternative diesel fuels, to enable low emissions and high efficiency diesel combustion and potentially HCCI operation
Approach:
The experimental facility consists of a Modified CFR Octane Rating Engine, converted to operate on premixed – prevaporized fuels via a preheater and GDI fuel injector. The Octane Rating Engine can be run without spark to study autoignition characteristics of various fuels, fuel blends and additives. By varying the compression ratio and fuel/air preheat temperature, the mixture can be brought to various extents of ignition and the products analyzed via FTIR spectroscopy and GC/MS to identify stable intermediate species.