A comparative study of the performance and exhaust emissions of a spark ignition engine fuelled by natural gas and gasoline

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to obtain a detailed comparison of engine performance and exhaust emissions from natural gas and gasoline fuelled spark ignition engines. Each fuel was tested at both wide-open throttle and two part-load operating conditions over a wide range of air—fuel ratios. The results show that the power output of the engine at a given throttle position was reduced by about 12 per cent when fuelled by natural gas due to displacement of air by the gas. The emission levels for natural gas were lower by from 5 to 50 per cent, depending on the pollutant, compared to gasoline. On an energy basis, both fuels exhibited nearly equal thermal efficiency, except that at very lean air—fuel ratios natural gas showed increased efficiency due to an extension of the lean limit of combustion.

Keywords

engine performance emissions gasoline natural gas comparison

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Klimstra

Catalytic converters for natural gas fuelled engines — A measurement and control problem. SAE paper 872165, 1987.

Evans

R. L.

Tippett

E. C.

Mawle

C. D.

Fast-burn combustion chamber design for natural gas fuelled spark-ignition engines. Paper presented at Combustion Institute Spring Technical Meeting, Banff, Canada, 1990.

Evans

R. L.

Blaszczyk

Fast-burn combustion chamber development. CGA Research and Development Project number 200-1.5, 1991 (unpublished).

Evans

R. L.

Blaszczyk

Combustion chamber design for a lean-burn SI engine. Paper presented at Combustion Institute, Spring Technical Meeting, Canadian Section, University of Alberta, 11-13 May 1992.

Evans

R. L.

Blaszczyk

Low-emission combustion chamber design. 25th ISATA International Symposium on Automotive Technology and Automation, Florence, Italy, 1-5 June 1992, paper 920420.

Evans

R. L.

Blaszczyk

Combustion chamber design for a lean-burn SI engine. SAE paper 921545, 1992.

Evans

R. L.

Jones

A. L.

Lorghese

A comparison of natural gas and gasoline in a spark-ignition engine. Proceedings, Gaseous Fuels for Transportation I, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 1986, pp. 713–726.

Flemming

R. D.

O'Neal

G. C.

Potential for improving the efficiency of a spark ignition engine for natural gas fuel. SAE paper 852073, 1985.

Engine Power Test Code — Spark Ignition and Diesel. June 1985, SAE J1349, SAE Standard.

10.

Procedure for Mapping Engine Performance — Diesel and SI Engines. May 1987, SAE J1312, SAE Recommended Procedure.

11.

French

C. C. J.

A universal test engine for combustion research. SAE paper 830453, 1983.

12.

Heywood

J. B.

Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals, 1988 (McGraw-Hill, New York).

13.

Blaszczyk

Fast-burn combustion chamber test procedures. Alternative Fuels laboratory report, AFL-90-13, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of British Columbia, 1990.