Modified diesel engine fueled by syngas: Modeling and experimental validation

Diesel engines are robust and reliable machine for stationary electrical energy production. In fact, these engines are designed to run continuously for thousands of hours and with low maintenance. However, several issues affect the application of syngas as fuel in this kind of engines. The full conversion from diesel to gas fuel need the presence of the spark plug instead of the diesel injection. Therefore, the high compression ratio in this kind of engines increase the possibility of the knocking phenomenon inside the combustion chamber. The knocking damages the engine mechanical structure and reduce the engine reliability. Several works set the limit of the compression ratio to 17 in order to overcome this issue. In addition, the velocity of the syngas combustion flame is higher compared to the diesel one as result to the presence of hydrogen in the syngas. This difference forces to reduce the spark ignition time from 0 to 15 ° in advance respect the Bottom Top Dead Center (BTDC) in order to limit the peak pressure inside the cylinders to the design value of the engine. Aim of this work is to compare results of a 0D mathematical model of a converted diesel engine with the results obtained in an experimental campaign. For the tests a Fiat Power Train (FPT) 4.5 liters commercial diesel engine converted to syngas is used. The model calculates the maximum power output of the engine at different rpm starting from syngas composition, airsyngas mixture temperature and diesel nominal power. The model takes into account the friction losses, air to fuel ratio and intake manifold pressure. Experimental tests were run on a gasification facility consisting in a fixed bed wood chip downdraft gasifier that generates syngas to fuel the FPT engine. The engine is connected to a MeccAlte generator for electrical power production. An Arduino based controller sets the position of the air valve in order to stabilize the lambda value of the exhaust of the engine to 1.05. A variable electrical load was applied and it was increased as long as the engine was able to drag the generator at 1500 rpm. During the tests, the following parameters were monitored: syngas volumetric flow rate and composition, syngas pollutants concentration (tar, particulate and water), air-gas mixture temperature and intake manifold pressure. An HT electrical circuit analyzer recorded the power output of the generator. Several tests were run at 1500 rpm varying the air-syngas mixture temperature and the intake manifold pressure and experimental results was compared to 0D model predictions. A good agreement of the model to experimental data was achieved. Syngas conversion reduces the maximum electrical power output of the engine generator from 49.7 kW to about 22 kW as result of the lower air-syngas mixture calorific value and density compared to diesel-air mixture. However, the engine mechanical efficiency is comparable using syngas or diesel fuel (about 30%) and pollutant emissions are strongly lower with syngas fuel.