Emission characteristic in CI engines using

zirconium porous medium in piston head

Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2161, 020012 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5127603
Published Online: 02 October 2019

F. Justin Dhiraviam, V. Naveenprabhu, K. Satish, and A. R. Palanivelrajan

AIP Conference Proceedings 2161, 020012 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5127603 2161, 020012

© 2019 Author(s).
 Emission Characteristic in CI Engines Using Zirconium
Porous Medium In Piston Head

F. Justin Dhiraviam1,a) ,V. Naveenprabhu2,b) , K. Satish3,c) and A.R.

Palanivelrajan4,d)
1,2,3,4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Eshwar College of Engineering, Coimbatore.
a)
Corresponding author: [email protected], b) [email protected],c) [email protected],
d)
[email protected]
Abstract: The present heterogeneous combustion engine results in incomplete combustion and uneven heat distribution of the
engine cylinder. This results in high NOx formation, CO and unburned hydrocarbon emissions (UHC). The emissions can only be
improved by catalytic treatments but it results in a high cost. So, we have introduced Porous Medium (PM) to overcome this
above problem. The main objective of using porous medium in IC engines is to achieve homogeneous combustion, it leads to
lean burn combustion due to increased heat transfer co efficient, high heat capacity and large surface area of porous medium. So
that the temperature inside the cylinder decreases resulting in drop of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxides formation.

Keywords: Porous medium, Homogeneous Combustion, Diesel Fuel Spray, Fuel Penetration, Multi-split effect, vaporization.

INTRODUCTION

Diesel engines are recently receiving more attention in the passenger car transport sector due to their higher
fuel efficiency and torque characteristics compared with gasoline engines. It is well known that diesel engine
combustion produces higher particulate emissions due to the formation of heterogeneous mixture inside the cylinder.
Future diesel engines will have very low or near zero emissions with the lowest fuel consumption under all engine
operating conditions. This could be possible with uniform and homogeneous combustion concept.

One of the promising technologies for the complete combustion process is using porous-medium inside the
combustion chamber. Using this approach, a complete homogeneous combustion and with standardized temperature
field will be produced. Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) has been studied and fitted on the piston head of the Kirloskar
engine.

Durst and weclas has proposed the first concept of porous medium technology in IC engine. There are two methods,
that have been identified for fixing porous medium in IC engine, one is non-movable (cylinder head) and other is
movable position (piston head-moves along with piston). These methods of inserting porous medium has a potential
to improve the homogeneous and stabilize the combustion of compressed ignition engine. The purpose of using
these methods is to ensure the reliable ignition of lean mixture and to minimize the peak temperature in combustion
chamber. [1] Heat conductivity of porous medium (PM) is highly depend on the type of material. Since the concept
depends on the high temperature resistant porous material so we need to identify and survey about such porous
materials. Different types of porous materials are silicon carbide (Sic), aluminum oxide (Al2 O3), zirconium oxide
(ZrO2). Aluminum oxide and zirconium oxide are consisting of variant properties of these materials can be used in
temperature range 1650 oC and above, whereas metal and silicon carbide do not fall in this category hence they are
used in low temperature ranges. However, they possess outstanding property of high damping quality. Solid
Zirconia shows high resistance to temperature which ranges up to 2300 0C. The conduction depends on the
temperature, in the range of 2 W/(m K) to 5 W/(m K). High conductivity and heat transfer capacity and medium
dispersion properties makes it highly recommendable for high temperature applications. When compare to the
properties that we have mentioned above, we came up with zirconium oxide (ZrO2) to this project which has high
heat conductivity, mechanical properties like tensile and compressive strength, thermal shock etc. [2]. When the
temperature of porous material is equal to the ignition temperature that is when it is called as homogeneous
combustion. The working principle of this process is by injecting fuel into the porous medium volume and then

Renewable Energy Sources and Technologies

AIP Conf. Proc. 2161, 020012-1–020012-8; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5127603
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1906-3/$30.00

020012-1
consequently all the events i.e. fuel vaporization, air-fuel mixture formation and homogenization as well as
combustion reactions occurred inside the porous medium in a fast and complete manner. The results show that when
compare to the conventional one such as low emissions, high cycle efficiency and low combustion noise has been
noticed. The presence of porous medium can absorb the reaction heat in the local high temperature to reduce the
peak temperature so that less NOx is reduced when compare to the conventional one and also there is a significant
reduction in soot formation. This results in achieving homogeneous combustion process. The fuel injection timing is
also a key factor which plays a vital role in auto ignition temperature. Porous medium will act as a heat storage as
well as exchange function. During the combustion process, it stores some of the enthalpy in form of heat. During
next cycle enthalpy is transferred from porous medium again to heat up the air in the cylinder. [3]. Equivalence ratio
is the ratio of actual air-fuel to the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio. With increasing in equivalence ratio HC
concentrations are reduced, while the NOx and CO increased. This is mainly due to the raised combustion
temperature with the more fuel burned. For equivalence ratio 0.07, the gas temperature rises faster and higher before
combustion and also in early part of combustion at lower porosity (e=0.7) than at higher porosity, because the
porous medium can heat up the gas more easily (with less amount of gas in pores) this results in higher gas
temperature at porosity facilitates combustion. This leads to more complete combustion. [4] Porous medium (PM)
Structure plays one of the major roles in this project. Different porous structures have been used to enhance the
engine process and also to achieve the homogeneous combustion. The major differences among the properties of
these porous medium (PM) lies in pore per diameter and length, while their porosities and thermal conductivities are
almost same. The difference in the numbers of pores and pore diameter cause changes in the volumetric heat transfer
coefficient. [5] The heat transfer between solid and gas phase in the porous medium (PM) is directly affected by
engine speed, while it also reduces the former heat in the engine combustion and enthalpy is transferred from the
solid phase back to the gas phase in the porous medium (PM) at the same time. [6] The volumetric heat transfer
coefficient was determined and it showed strong dependence on the mean pore diameter.as the pore diameter
increased the volumetric heat transfer coefficient decreased. Weclas et.al [7] described the following phases
happening between liquid –jet interaction. Distance between injector and porous medium, jet reflection from the
interface, jet propagation penetration along the Porous Medium volume, fuel spray propagation after PM. Due to the
high injection pressure ,which will increase the wider cone angle and then consequently increase the air-fuel mixture
leads to homogeneous formation.[8]Large heat capacity of the porous medium and large specific surface area which
will make the fuel into tiny droplets eventually leads to very fast and complete vaporization. Impact of fuel droplets
into the pores of porous medium leads to the effective mixture formation and homogenization. [9] Equivalence ratio
is the major factor to be considered here corresponding to the NO x emissions. It was clear that NOx emissions
increase with increasing in equivalence ratio and fuel concentration. NO x emission starts increases form the
equivalence ratio of (e=0.93) to the maximum attained NO x emission to the equivalence ratio (e=1.2). It was found
that by increasing the value of air-fuel beyond these values, NOx conversion efficiency remains same for some small
range and eventually starts to decrease. And at the same time increasing the equivalence ratio beyond these values
leads to the flame unstable condition. [10] In Zirconia, the UHC are drastically reduced drastically through rapid
vaporization of the fuel injected into the porous medium and also by complete combustion. The following are the
two main factors responsible for eliminating UHC formation that is over mixing (over-leaning) and under-mixing
(over-riching). [11] In phase C section, when the fuel jet is impinges into the porous medium volume, the fuel
penetrates into the porous structure results in multi jet formation (self-homogenization). Eventually the axial jet
propagation is reduced and radial jet propagation is thoroughly spread and increased. [12] When the time of fuel
distribution inside the porous medium structure, the fuel propagation is different when at the time of atmospheric
pressure 5 and cone angle 600 after injection starts. When changing the cone angle from 60 0 to 920, length of axial
penetration is greatly reduced whereas radial jet propagation is greatly increasing the results in homogeneous
formation. [13] Diffusion combustion plays a significant role in the combustion process. Diffusion combustion
combines the pre-mixed phase and diffusion phase. Pre-mixed phase occurs before the actual diffusion combustion
phase happens and diffusion phase occurs when the turbulence of air-fuel mixtures achieves completely. So, to
achieve the diffusion combustion successfully, we have to adopt high pressure injection system. If this process not
occurred in time, it results increase in ignition delay. Consequently, knocking factor comes into effect. [14] Excess
air ratio plays a role in formation of NOx emission. Increase in excess air ratio corresponding to the NOx formation
also reduces at the constant firing rate. It was found that increasing in excess air ratio decrease the maximum
temperature produced inside the combustion chamber. [15] Due to this effect more amount of heat will be released
at the condenser for the same work input. This rejected heat is used to increase the heat added to the conditioned
space without affecting the work input of the cycle during the winter conditions [16]. The amount of power required
to actuate the lever during the high-pressure process need of external agency of actuation [17]. This increased heat

020012-2
transfer decreases the likelihood of detonation by reducing the inlet temperatures and maximizes power output by
increasing the density of the air inlet charge, therefore increasing overall horsepower levels as the intake charge is
now cooler and denser [18]. Heat transfer of the system can be increased effectively by means of altering the
properties of coolant fluid. The addition of Nano particle dispersed coolant will give you a better heat transfer in
system compared to conventional system [19] and [20]. Increase the performance of the CI engine and reduction of
the emission characteristics such as CO, NO and S are achieved by means of the catalytic materials like copper,
copper- zirconium are coated in the cylinder head and piston head [21] and [22].

EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

FIGURE 1: Schematic diagram of test apparatus

TABLE 1: Specification of Experimental setup Engine

Make Kirloskar

No of Cylinder Single Cylinder Diesel engine

Type Variable Compression Ratio Engine

No of Strokes 4

BHP 7

Compression Ratio 17.5:1

Bore diameter 87.5 mm

Stroke length 110 mm

Rated RPM 1500

Type of Cooling Water Cooled Engine

020012-3
 The test material is zirconium oxide (ZrO2) (ceramic foam) which are porous material. The porous medium
are manufactured by met air technologies ceramics having different mean pore diameters. Figure 1 shows the
schematics of the setup used for the experimental investigation. A porous medium is defined as a solid medium
with interconnected pores (high permeability), available as either a packed bed of discrete solids (mainly ceramic
material) or foam. The pore density is the number of pores per unit length of material specified as PPI (pores per
inch). The PM is produced from Nickel metal which is made by directional solidification of metal from a
superheated liquid state in an environment of overpressure and high vacuum. Table 2 summary the physical
properties of zirconium oxide (ZrO2).
Kirloskar 7 BHP single cylinder four stroke water cooled diesel engine has been taken for analyzing the
performance and emissions characteristics with / without inserting the porous medium on engine piston. Porous
medium (10 PPI) is placed on the piston head of Kirloskar engine. Piston is selected based on the specifications of
engine. Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) porous material is used in the Kirloskar 7 Bhp diesel engine piston with appropriate
locking mechanism.

Table 2: Key Properties of Zirconium Oxide

S. No Properties Values

1. Working Temperature 1700 0C

2. Hole density 10 PPI

3. Compression Strength >1 MPa

4. Bending Strength 1.2 MPa

5. Heat Conductivity 2 – 5 W/m k

6. Melting Point 2800 0C

FIGURE 2: Piston with porous medium

Figure 2, shows the Piston with porous medium is fixed in engine, performance and emissions characteristics tests are
carried out for different load conditions which are shown below table.

020012-4
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The emission characteristics for the CI engine with porous medium for CO, NO x, depicts the improvement
in high load conditions which refers to change in 69%, when compared to the conventional type CI engine. The
emission characteristics for the low load and working load condition comparatively shows the increased in plots in
curve. The heat distribution inside the chamber with porous medium transfer in higher rate and thus the indicated
power induces the mechanical brake power and improves the mechanical efficiency.
The reduction in emission on NOx, CO with porous medium and conventional type CI engine were
progressively found to be increased with 69% & 23% respectively on maximum load conditions. The reduction
phase for the test started from the change in load condition from working load say 4 kg to maximum load begins
from 6 kg. This change in load influences the reduction of emission on 6 kg condition from 4 kg load as 45% & 20%
in the emissions of NOx, CO respectively. The 2% fall were observed with HC emission on the same load condition.
Hence forth the beginning of maximum load (6 kg) indicates the improvement in reduction of emission
characteristics of the PM engine also found to be increased.

Comparison between load (kg) and Nox(ppm)

FIGURE 3: Emission Characteristics of NOx (ppm) Vs load (kg)

Oxides of nitrides (NOx) is the combination of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2). It is well
known that diesel engine combustion produces higher particulate emissions due to the formation of heterogeneous
mixture inside the cylinder. Due to incomplete combustion occurring inside the combustion chamber, it results in
uneven distribution of heat inside the combustion chamber and consequently increases in peak temperature indicates
in figure 3. If the temperature increases above the 1600 oC, the nitrogen is reacting with oxygen molecules and it
results in formation of NOx
A wider spray distribution in the case of PM could increase homogeneous air fuel mixture inside the
chamber which results in complete combustion. Testing NO x with respect to load has been studied. It can be seen in
the figure 3 that up to 4kg of load, NO2 formation is high when compare to conventional engine. Due to the because
of insufficient heat content stored in the porous medium (PM) in the starting condition. It can be seen that after 4kg
of load, NOx formation is drastically reduced to 380 ppm.

020012-5
 Comparison between load (kg) and CO2 (%)

FIGURE 4: Emission Characteristics of CO2 (%) Vs load (kg)

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced as result of complete combustion. At starting stage, the heat storage
is not sufficient to transfer the heat to next stroke. So consequently, it results in incomplete combustion. Up to 4 kg
load, the carbon dioxide percentage is below conventional engine percentage and after once the engine runs over
time, the CO2 percentage gets increases above conventional engine percentage as indicated in figure 4. When
compared to conventional engine, CO2 level can be increased up to 3.27% from no load to full load operations.

Comparison between load (kg) vs HC

FIGURE 5: Emission Characteristics of HC (pm) Vs load (kg)

The penetration of liquid core portion plays important role in formation unburned hydrocarbon (UHC), if
the penetration of the liquid core portion is longer than the physical dimensions of the bowl in the piston, the liquid
fuel will impinge on the wall or surface of the combustion chamber and stays on the crevice volume itself. Once the
liquid impinges on the surface it cannot ignite and burn while remaining on the surface. The flame does not
propagate to that crevice volume and this results in carbon deposits on the combustion chamber walls.

020012-6
 The above-mentioned graphs variations are due to the Porous Medium (PM) engine is based on the super-
adiabatic combustion for minimizing Nox emission. It has greater combustion flame stability, internal heat
recuperation and contained combustion. The flow becomes extremely turbulent and as a result rapid mixing of
vaporized fuel and air occurs. Due to the effect said above, the flame propagates through the porous matrix at a
greater velocity and complete combustion occurs in the porous medium. This is due to the large specific porous
medium surface area and excellent heat transfer property. The heat stored during the combustion stroke is then
transferred to the mixture of fuel and air to heat for the effective and rapid vaporization to attain the complete
combustion. The Nox emissions is reduced by smaller porosity in porous medium, which helps in achieving the
reduced peak gas temperature at the combustion. Thus, the heat storage capacity is enhanced and exchange of
enthalpy from the previous combustion process is transferred to the next combustion process. This ability to attain
super homogeneous combustion and to sustain extra lean mixture helps to reduce the emissions. The extra lean burn
helps in achieving low combustion temperature.

CONCLUSION

Concluded and say that there is reduction in the formation of NOx and particulate emissions (soot
formation) by achieving the homogeneous combustion inside the combustion chamber. Consequently, temperature
distribution inside the combustion chamber gets constant. Because of 3D structure of porous medium, the increase in
radial penetration by decreasing the axial penetration of fuel spray, the fuel gets split into multiple sprays. Resulting
in formation of homogenization of mixture.so the NOx and soot formation are drastically reduced.

REFERENCES

1. M. A. Mujeebu, A. A. Mohamad, and M. Z. Abdullah, “Applications of Porous Media Combustion

Technology,” in The Role of Colloidal Systems in Environmental Protection, (2014), pp. 615–633.
2. S. Adil, V. Hura, A. Mehrotra, and A. Khaliq, “Recent Advancements of Porous Medium Combustion
Technology in IC Engines and a New Concept of Cogeneration in PM-Engine,” Cogniz. ’04 – Annu. Tech.
Festival, IIT Roorkee, 19-21 March 2004,Roorkee (UA), India, no. March,( 2004), pp. 1–8.
3. L. Zhou, M. Z. Xie, and K. H. Luo, “Numerical study of heat transfer and combustion in IC engine with a
porous media piston region,” Appl. Therm. Eng., vol. 65, no. 1–2, (2014),pp. 597–604.
4. S. Jugjai, N. Wongpanit, T. Laoketkan, and S. Nokkaew, “The combustion of liquid fuels using a porous
medium,” Exp. Therm. Fluid Sci., vol. 26, no. 1, (2002), pp. 15–23.
5. Z. Zhao, C. Wang, and M. Xie, “Numerical study on the realization of compression ignition in a type of porous
medium engine fueled with Isooctane,” Fuel, vol. 88, no. 11,(2009), pp. 2291–2296.
6. [M. A. Mujeebu, M. Z. Abdullah, M. Z. A. Bakar, A. A. Mohamad, R. M. N. Muhad, and M. K. Abdullah,
“Combustion in porous media and its applications - A comprehensive survey,” J. Environ. Manage., vol. 90,
no. 8,(2009), pp. 2287–2312.
7. L. B. Younis and R. Viskanta, “Experimental determination of the volumetric heat transfer coefficient between
stream of air and ceramic foam,” Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., vol. 36, no. 6,(1993), pp. 1425–1434.
8. I. Sohrabiasl, M. Gorji-Bandpy, A. Hajialimohammadi, and M. A. Mirsalim, “Effect of open cell metal porous
media on evolution of high pressure diesel fuel spray,” Fuel, vol. 206, 92017), pp. 133–144.
9. H. Liu, M. Xie, and D. Wu, “Simulation of a porous medium (PM) engine using a two-zone combustion
model,” Appl. Therm. Eng., vol. 29, no. 14–15,(2009), pp. 3189–3197.
10. S. Afsharvahid, P. J. Ashman, and B. B. Dally, “Investigation of NOxconversion characteristics in a porous
medium,” Combust. Flame, vol. 152, no. 4,(2008), pp. 604–615.
11. F. Durst and M. Weclas, “A new type of internal combustion engine based on the porous-medium combustion
technique,” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part D J. Automob. Eng., vol. 215, no. 1,(2001), pp. 63–81.
12. M. Weclas, “Potential of Porous-Media Combustion Technology as Applied to Internal Combustion Engines,”
J. Thermodyn., vol. 2010,(2010), pp. 1–39.
13. Z. Zhao and M. XIE, “Numerical simulation about interaction between pressure swirl spray and hot porous
medium,” Energy Convers. Manag., vol. 49, no. 5, (2008), pp. 1047–1055.

020012-7
14. S. Kumar, M. Kumar Chauhan, and Varun, “Numerical modeling of compression ignition engine: A review,”
Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 19,(2013), pp. 517–530.
15. J. R. Shi, M. Z. Xie, H. Liu, H. S. Liu, X. S. Zhang, and Y. N. Xu, “Two-dimensional numerical study of
combustion and heat transfer in porous media combustor-heater,” Proc. Combust. Inst., vol. 33, no. 2,(2011),
pp. 3309–3316.
16. F.Justin Dhiraviam, V.Naveenprabhu. M. Santhosh, “Study the Effects of Solar Assisted Vapour Compression
Air Conditioning System for Winter Applications,” International Journal for Scientific Research &
Development|, vol. 4, no. 11,(2017), pp. 505–508.
17. V.Naveenprabhu, F.JustinDhiraviam, A.Vimal, K.Kumarrathinam “Design of Common Header Line for
Reduction of Process Time in Pump Testing,” International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology.,
vol. 4, no. 1.(2017),pp.969-975.
18. F. Justin Dhiraviam, V. NaveenPrabhu, T. Suresh, and C. Selva Senthil Prabhu, “Improved Efficiency in
Engine Cooling System by Repositioning of Turbo Inter Cooler,” Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol.
787,(2015), pp. 792–796.
19. V.Naveenprabhu and M.Suresh," Performance evaluation of tube-in-tube heat exchanger using nanofluids",
Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 787,(2015), pp. 72–76.
20. V. NaveenPrabhu, K. SaravanaKumar, T. Suresh and M. Suresh," Experimental investigation on tube-in-tube
heat exchanger using nanofluids", Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences, Vol 10(7),(2016), pp. 272-278.
21. Y.Sureshbabu and P.AshokaVarthanan, Study the emission characteristics of catalytic coated piston and
combustion chamber of a four stroke spark ignition (SI) engine, Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical
Sciences, JCHPS Special Issue 4,(2014), pp-126-127.
22. Y. Sureshbabu, Design & Thermal Analysis of A Copper Coated IC Engine Piston , International Journal for
Scientific Research & Development ,Vol.6, issue 02,(2018) ,pp- 1981-1983.

020012-8