The effects of EGR and injection timing on the engine combustion and particulate matter emission performances fuelled with diesel-ethanol blends

Abstract

In this paper, an experimental study was carried out to assess the effects of diesel/ ethanol blends, including pure diesel, diesel (90%)/ethanol (10%) (E10, by mass) and diesel (80%)/ethanol (20%) (E20), on combustion and exhaust particulate matter emissions characteristics in a four-cylinder Diesel engine under a low engine load condition with different injection timings and exhaust gas recirculation ratios. Results indicated that ethanol addition delayed the ignition timing and shortened the combustion duration, meanwhile, produced higher brake thermal efficiency and lower brake specific fuel consumption. Moreover, the total particulate and nucleation mode particle (particle size Dp < 50 nm) number concentrations were increased and the total particulate mass and the accumulation mode (50 nm < Dp < 1000 nm) number concentration were decreased when engine fueled with diesel/ethanol blends compared to pure diesel.