Effects of direct injection timing and blending ratio on RCCI combustion with different low reactivity fuels

• E85 requires notable lower premixed energy ratios to achieve a stable combustion.
• E10-95 leads to shorter and advanced combustion with higher maximum RoHR peaks.
• E20-95, E10-98 and E10-95 reach EURO VI NOx and soot levels for all the engine loads.
• E10-95 allows a significant reduction in HC and CO emissions.

This work investigates the effects of the direct injection timing and blending ratio on RCCI performance and engine-out emissions at different engine loads using four low reactivity fuels: E10-95, E10-98, E20-95 and E85 (port fuel injected) and keeping constant the same high reactivity fuel: diesel B7 (direct injected). The experiments were conducted using a heavy-duty single-cylinder research diesel engine adapted for dual-fuel operation. All the tests were carried out at 1200 rpm. To assess the blending ratio effect, the total energy delivered to the cylinder coming from the low reactivity fuel was kept constant for the different fuel blends investigated by adjusting the low reactivity fuel mass as required in each case. In addition, a detailed analysis of the air/fuel mixing process has been developed by means of a 1-D in-house developed spray model.Results suggest that notable higher diesel amount is required to achieve a stable combustion using E85. This fact leads to higher NOx levels and unacceptable ringing intensity. By contrast, EURO VI NOx and soot levels are fulfilled with E20-95, E10-98 and E10-95. Finally, the higher reactivity of E10-95 results in a significant reduction in CO and HC emissions, mainly at low load.