Experimental analysis of the EGR rate and temperature impact on combustion and emissions characteristics in a heavy-duty NG engine

Cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is one of the most effective methods in spark ignition (SI) natural gas (NG) engines to improve the fuel economy and reduce the nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. The objective of this study is to anatomize the EGR rate and temperature impact on the combustion and emissions characteristics by the experiments in a heavy duty (HD) NG engine under various spark timings. The results showed that the increasing EGR rate reduced the burning rate and extended the combustion duration. Spark timing should be optimized to copy with the retarded combustion phase. Under high EGR rate, the combustion performance could be optimized with the increase of EGR temperature. There exists a proper EGR rate in real application for the fuel consumption of the engine. Higher EGR temperature plays positive effects on fuel economy, owing to the higher combustion efficiency and lower throttle losses, and the decreasing amplitude of BSFC is 1.25% between the EGR temperatures of 333 K and 373 K. With the increase of EGR rate from 5% to 25%, NOx emissions are reduced by up to 76%, the unburned hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions are increased by 34.6% and 12.9% respectively. Higher EGR temperature could alleviate the increase of HC and CO emissions, but sacrificing the NOx emissions, and the increase extent of NOx emissions is 35.3%. The results provide an insight into the quantitative comparisons of EGR rate and temperature on the NG engine performance and emissions, which promotes the utilizing EGR strategy in SI NG engines.