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This article presents a novel approach to the analysis of heat release in a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion spark-ignition engine with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). It also discusses aspects of thermodynamic analysis common to modeling and empirical analysis. This new approach concerns a novel method of calculating the specific heat ratio (cp/cv) and takes into account the reduction in the number of moles during combustion, which is characteristic of hydrogen combustion. This reduction in the number of moles was designated as a molar contraction. This is particularly crucial when calculating the average temperature during combustion. Subsequently, the outcomes of experimental tests, including the heat-release rate, the initial combustion phase (denoted CA0-10) and the main combustion phase (CA10-90), are presented. Furthermore, the impact of exhaust gas recirculation on the combustion process in the engine is also discussed. The efficacy of the proposed measures was validated by analyzing the heat-release rate and calculating the mean combustion temperature in the engine. The application of EGR in the range 0-40% resulted in a notable prolongation of both the initial and main combustion phases, which consequently influenced the mean combustion temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the possibility of using glycerol as an additive to the engine fuel in order to reduce the tendency of combustion knock, and thus to increase the octane number of a given fuel. Experimental tests were carried out on the UIT-85 research engine with a variable compression ratio from eight to eleven to test the intensity of the knock. The completely renewable fuel—the blend of glycerol with butanol in the ratio of 25 and 75%, respectively—was tested. A comparative analysis of the knock intensity was conducted with gasoline 95 and N-butanol tested as reference fuels. The developed method for knock analysis using the proposed knock indicator was also presented. The experimental results proved the proposed blend of N-butanol and glycerol reduces the knock intensity by more than 50% in the spark-ignition engine at a compression ratio of 10, maintaining engine performance at a similar level as it was for a gasoline-fueled engine. The results confirmed the thesis on the reduction of knock intensity when adding glycerol to N-butanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the results of experimental studies on the course of pyrolysis oil injection through the high-pressure injector of a direct-injection engine. The pyrolysis oil used for the tests was derived from waste plastics (mainly high-density polyethylene—HDPE). This oil was then distilled. The article also describes the production technology of this pyrolysis oil on a laboratory scale. It presents the results of the chemical composition of the raw pyrolysis oil and the oil after the distillation process using GC-MS analysis. Fuel injection tests were carried out for the distilled pyrolysis oil and a 91 RON gasoline in order to perform a comparative analysis with the tested pyrolysis oil. In this case, the research was focused on the injected spray cloud analysis. The essential tested parameter was the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) of fuel droplets measured at the injection pressure of 400 bar. The analysis showed that the oil after distillation contained a significant proportion of light hydrocarbons similar to gasoline, and that the SMDs for distilled pyrolysis oil and gasoline were similar in the 7–9 µm range. In conclusion, it can be considered that distilled pyrolysis oil from HDPE can be used both as an additive for blending with gasoline in a spark-ignition engine or as a single fuel for a gasoline compression-ignition direct injection engine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the influence of briquetting/compaction parameters. This includes the effects of pressure and temperature on material density and the thermal conductivity of biomass compacted into briquette samples. Plant biomass mainly consists of lignin and cellulose which breaks down into simple polymers at the elevated temperature of 200 °C. Hence, the compaction pressure, compaction temperature, density, and thermal conductivity of the tested material play crucial roles in the briquetting and the torrefaction process to transform it into charcoal with a high carbon content. The tests were realized for samples of raw biomass compacted under pressure in the range from 100 to 1000 bar and at two temperatures of 20 and 200 °C. The pressure of 200 bar was concluded as the most economically viable in briquetting technology in the tests conducted. The conducted research shows a relatively good log relationship between the density of the compacted briquette and the compaction pressure. Additionally, higher compaction pressure resulted in higher destructive force of the compacted material, which may affect the lower abrasion of the material. Regarding heat transfer throughout the sample, the average thermal conductivity for the compacted biomass was determined at a value of 0.048 ± 0.001 W/(K∙m). Finally, the described methodology for thermal conductivity determination has been found to be a reliable tool, therefore it can be proposed for other applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Converter gas (BOFG) is a by-product of the steel manufacturing process in steelworks. Its usage as a substitute fuel instead of natural gas for fueling a metallurgical furnace seems to be reasonable due to potential benefits as follows: CO2 emission reduction into the ambient air and savings in purchasing costs of natural gas. Results of theoretical analysis focused on implementing converter gas as a fuel for feeding a tunnel furnace for either steel plate rolling, steel sheet hardening in its real working condition or both, are discussed. The analysis was focused on the combustion chemistry of the converter gas and its potential ecological and economic benefits obtained from converter gas usage to heat up steel in a tunnel furnace. Simulations of combustion were conducted using a skeletal chemical kinetic mechanism by Konnov. The directed relation graph with error propagation aided sensitivity analysis (DRGEPSA) method was used to obtain this skeletal kinetic mechanism. Finally, the model was validated on a real tunnel furnace fueled by natural gas. Regarding exhaust emissions, it was found that nitric oxide (NO) dropped down from 275 to 80 ppm when natural gas was replaced by converter gas. However, carbon dioxide emissions increased more than three times in this case, but there is no possibility of eliminating carbon dioxide from steel manufacturing processes at all. Economic analysis showed savings of 44% in fuel purchase costs when natural gas was replaced by converter gas. Summing up, the potential benefits resulting from substituting natural gas with converter gas led to the conclusion that converter gas is strongly recommended as fuel for a tunnel furnace in the steel manufacturing process. Practical application requires testing gas burners in terms of their efficiency, which should provide the same amount of energy supplied to the furnace when fed with converter gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of a new type of fuel for the internal combustion engine, which can be successfully used in both the power generation and the automotive industries, is presented in this article. The proposed fuel is a blend of 75% n-butanol and 25% glycerol. The engine tests conducted with this glycerol–butanol blend were focused on the performance, combustion thermodynamics, and exhaust emissions of a spark-ignition engine. A comparative analysis was performed to find potential similarities and differences in the engine fueled with gasoline 95 and the proposed glycerol–butanol blend. As measured, CO exhaust emissions increased, NOx emissions decreased, and UHC emissions were unchanged for the glycerol–butanol blend when compared to the test with sole gasoline. As regards the engine performance and combustion progress, no significant differences were observed. Exhaust temperature remarkably decreased by 3.4%, which contributed to an increase in the indicated mean effective pressure by approximately 4% compared to gasoline 95. To summarize, the proposed glycerol–butanol blend can be directly used as a replacement for gasoline in internal combustion spark-ignition engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents results from an investigation focused on toxicity content in the exhaust gases emitted by an internal combustion compression ignition engine fueled with glycerol-ethanol blends at ratio of 50/50% by volume. The innovative issue of this engine is the application of two high pressure injectors for injecting both glycerol-ethanol blend and diesel pilot fuel at high pressure (over 200 MPa). As known, glycerol is considered a byproduct from biodiesel production technologies, hence its cost is relatively low compared to other renewable alternative fuels which can be applied as fuels to the reciprocating piston engines. It was found that the toxic components UHC, NOx and CO were below the maximum allowed limits. Both NOx and smoke emissions were strongly reduced with increasing glycerol-ethanol fraction in the fuel. Summarizing, a fueling strategy such as that proposed in this paper makes it possible to effectively and environmentally friendly combust crude glycerol in compression ignition engines working in a heat and power cogeneration unit. Exhaust gas emission tests conducted in this case confirmed the usability of this technology to be implemented into practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As known, dried sewage sludge, is a by-product produced from waste water treatment, contains significant amounts of organic content, and makes up to 60% with overall calorific value from 9 to 12 MJ/kg. Hence, it can be considered as material for thermal processing focusing on heat and power production. Among thermal conversion technologies, gasification is seen as the effective one because it can be easily combined with heat and power cogeneration units. On the other hand, due to high mineral content (40–50%) in the sludge, it is difficult to be gasified and obtain syngas with calorific value satisfactory enough for fueling the internal combustion engine. The dried sludge can be subjected to be gasified at temperature above 850 °C. However, large amounts of mineral content do not provide favorable conditions to obtain this required temperature. Thus, it is proposed to enrich the sewage sludge with biomass characterized with significantly higher calorific value. In the article, co-gasification of sewage sludge and Virginia Mallow—energetic crops was investigated. Results from experimental and numerical investigation have been presented. The dried sewage sludge enriched with Virginia Mallow at a mass ratio of 0/100%, 50/50% and 100/0% in tests and in the range from 0 to 100% for theoretical analysis was applied in order to achieve effective gasification process. As observed, lignocellulosic biomass like Virginia Mallow contains low amounts of mineral content below 2%, which makes it appropriate for thermal processing. It contributes to more stable and efficient gasification process. Additionally, Virginia Mallow caused that the process temperature possible to achieve, was 950 °C. Thus, sewage sludge was mixed with this high-energy component in order to improve the gasification parameters and obtain syngas with higher calorific value. A zero-dimensional, two-zone model was developed with aid of the POLIMI kinetics mechanism developed by CRECK Modeling Group to simulate gasification of low calorific substances enriched with high calorific biomass. Obtained results showed that sewage sludge can be completely gasified at presence of Virginia Mallow. Syngas calorific value of approximately 5 MJ/Nm3 was produced from this gasification process. The maximal percentage of Virginia Mallow in the mixture with the sewage sludge was set at 50% due to economic aspects of the technology. It was found, that satisfactory conditions for effective gasification were achieved at this 50/50% percentage of sewage sludge and Virginia Mallow. Potential intensity of gasification was predicted from this 0-D 2-zones model, which calculates area of reduction zone to area of combustion zone. This reduction-to-combustion area ratio for the sewage sludge-Virginia Mallow mixture was estimated at value of 2. Finally, the model was successfully verified with results from tests, hence it was proposed as a tool for preliminary investigation on poor fuels gasification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]