Influence of fuel type, dilution and equivalence ratio on the emission reduction from the auto-ignition in an Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition engine

One technology that seems to be promising for automobile pollution reduction is the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI). This technology still faces auto-ignition and emission-control problems. This paper focuses on the emission problem, since it is incumbent to realize engines that pollute less. For this purpose, this paper presents results concerning the measurement of the emissions of CO, NOx, CO2, O2 and hydrocarbons. HCCI conditions are used, with equivalence ratios between 0.26 and 0.54, inlet temperatures of 70 °C and 120 °C and compression ratios of 10.2 and 13.5, with different fuel types: gasoline, gasoline surrogate, diesel, diesel surrogate and mixtures of n-heptane/toluene. The effect of dilution is considered for gasoline, while the effect of the equivalence ratio is considered for all the fuels. No significant amount of NOx has been measured. It appeared that the CO, O2 and hydrocarbon emissions were reduced by decreasing the toluene content of the fuel and by decreasing the dilution. The opposite holds for CO2. The reduction of the hydrocarbon emission appears to compete with the reduction of the CO2 emission. Diesel seemed to produce less CO and hydrocarbons than gasoline when auto-ignited. An example of emission reduction control is presented in this paper.