Combustion property analyses with variable liquid marine fuels in combustion research unit
University of Vaasa, School of Technology and Innovations, Department of Energy Technology, P.O. Box 700, FI-65101 Vaasa, Finland
*Correspondence: Michaela.Hissa@uva.fi
Abstract:
The quality of ignition and combustion of four marine and power plant fuels were studied in a Combustion Research Unit, CRU. The fuels were low-sulphur Light Fuel Oil (LFO, baseline), Marine Gas Oil (MGO), kerosene and renewable wood-based naphtha. To meet climate change requirements and sustainability goals, combustion systems needs to be able to operate with a variety of renewable and ‘net-zero-carbon’ fuels. Due to the variations in the chemical and physical properties of the fuels, they generally cannot simply be dropped into existing systems. The aim of this research project was to understand how changes in fuel composition affect engine operation. The focus was on how various properties of the fuels impact on the combustion process – especially ignition delay and in-cylinder combustion. The goal of the research project was to allow broad fuel flexibility without any or only minor changes to engine hardware. Before the engine tests, the CRU forms an easy and cost-effective device to find out the engine suitability of the fuel. The results showed that the ignition delay decreased expectedly with all fuels when the in-cylinder pressure and temperature increased. The differences in the maximum heat release rates between fuels decreased in high-pressure conditions. MGO had the shortest ignition delay under both pressure and temperature conditions. Based on the CRU results MGO and kerosene are suitable to use in compression-ignited engines like the reference fuel LFO. In contrast renewable naphtha had a long ignition delay. If naphtha is used in a CI engine, the engine must be started and stopped with, e.g. LFO or MGO.
Key words:
alternative fuels, Diesel engines, heat release rate, ignition delay