Optical diagnostics and chemical kinetic analysis on the dual-fuel combustion of methanol and high reactivity fuels

Dual-fuel combustion is an effective method to utilize methanol because of its high octane number and latent heat of evaporation. Two ways to use methanol are discussed. One is port-injected high reactivity fuel and directed-injected methanol, named as active-thermal atmosphere combustion (ATAC). The other is port-injected methanol and direct-injected high reactivity fuel, which is reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI). In the current work, both methanol combustion modes were investigated in an optical engine. Several optically diagnostic methods were utilized to characterize flame features, including flame natural luminosity imaging, OH* natural luminosity imaging and two-color method by wavelength integration. Meantime, the chemical kinetics simulation was also combined to investigate the effects of active atmosphere and thermal atmosphere on methanol combustion. Results show that as for methanol ATAC, when the methanol is direct-injected during the low temperature heat release (LTHR) stage of n-heptane, it causes significant effects on the combustion phasing of the following high temperature heat release (HTHR). When the methanol is direct-injected during the HTHR stage of n-heptane, the single-peak HTHR turns to the double-peak HTHR. Besides, the yellow diffusion flame of methanol can also be observed. Affected by the in-cylinder vortex, the area and intensity of the OH* signal in the vortex squeeze zone are greater than those in the vortex stretch zone. The flame temperature of methanol maintains in 1800-2500 K at CA50 (the crank angle of 50% mixtures is burned completely), while the maximum KL factor maintains in 0.04-0.05. The thermal atmosphere created by the n-heptane combustion has the dominant effects on shortening the ignition delay of methanol. The effects of active atmosphere are limited. As for methanol/high reactivity fuel RCCI, because of the existence of homogeneous low reactivity methanol, the misfire condition occurs when the direct injection (DI) timing is late. With the DI timing of high reactivity fuel advancing, the combustion stability improves. But the flame development progress is mainly low-speed flame propagation, which results in long combustion duration. The combustion characteristics can be further improved by utilizing higher reactivity fuel, such as n-dodecane, specifically, the combustion phasing advances and the number of auto-ignition spots increases.

Automated summary

This study investigates two modes of dual-fuel combustion using methanol and examines their combustion characteristics using an optical engine and chemical kinetics simulation. The results show that methanol ATAC and RCCI exhibit different combustion behaviors and can be further improved by adjusting parameters.