Experimental Study of Methane Fuel Oxycombustion in an SI Engine

An experimental investigation of the thermal efficiency, combustion efficiency, and CoV IMEP, of methane fuel oxycombustion in an SI engine has been carried out. Compression ratio, spark-timing, and oxygen concentration were all varied. A variable compression ratio SI engine was operated on both wet and dry EGR working fluids, with results illustrating that the efficiency of the engine operating with a large amount of EGR was significantly reduced relative to methane-in-air operation over all oxygen concentrations and compression ratios. The maximum thermal efficiency of wet EGR, dry EGR, and air was found to be 23.6%, 24.2%, and 31.4%, respectively, corresponding to oxygen volume fractions of 29.3%, 32.7% and 21%. Combustion efficiency was above 98% for wet EGR and approximately 96% for dry EGR. CoV IMEP was low for both cases. The much lower efficiency of both EGR cases relative to air is primarily a result of the reduced specific-heat ratio of the EGR working fluids relative to air working fluid.