Experimental Evaluation of the Effect of Replacing Diesel Fuel by CNG on the Emission of Harmful Exhaust Gas Components and Emission Changes in a Dual-Fuel Engine

The constant development of civilization increases environmental pollution as a result of industrial activity and transport. Consequently, human activity in this area is restricted by regulations governing the permissible emission of harmful substance components into the environment. These include substances emitted by combustion engines, the use of which remains high in many industries. Consequently, research is being conducted to reduce the emissions of harmful exhaust components from existing and newly manufactured internal combustion engines. This research presents a used semi-truck engine, in which an innovative Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) supply system was applied. Using this fuel supply installation allows a mass exchange of the base diesel fuel to natural gas of up to 90%. The study evaluated the effect of the diesel/CNG exchange ratio for different engine operating conditions (engine load, speed) on the concentration of toxic components, such as CO, NO, NO2, NOX, as a sum of NO, NO2, CH4, C2H4, C2H6, C3H8, NH3, and CH2O. The use of a dual-fuel system had a positive effect on the emissions of some harmful exhaust components, even in an engine from a vehicle that had been running for many years on diesel and at high mileage, but, simultaneously, the emissions of some harmful exhaust gas components increased.