A numerical investigation on the influence of EGR in a supercharged SI engine fueled with gasoline and alternative fuels

Alternative fuels are mostly extracted from renewable resources, and their emission levels can be lower than those of traditional fossil-based fuels. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is utilized to investigate the effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and initial charge pressure on the emissions and performance of a SI engine. The engine is fueled separately by gasoline and some of potential alternative fuels including hydrogen, propane, methane, ethanol and methanol. The results of simulation are compared to the experimental data. In all validation cases, experimental and numerical results were observed to have good agreement with each other. The calculations are carried out for EGR ratios between 0% and 20% and four cases of initial pressure have been mentioned: Pin = 1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 bar. The effect of EGR on NOx emission of methane is more than other fuels and its effect on IMEP of hydrogen is less than other fuels. From the viewpoints of emission and power, 10% of EGR seems to be the most desirable amount. The most noticeable effect of supercharging is on gasoline unlike hydrogen, which seems to be affected the least. The comparison of results shows that hydrogen due to its high heating value and burning without producing any carbon-based compounds such as HC, CO and CO2 is an ideal alternative fuel compared to the other fuels.