An experimental investigation of high performance natural gas engine with direct injection

This paper presents experimental results of a new compressed natural gas direct injection (CNG-DI) engine that has been developed from modification of a multi cylinder gasoline port injection (PI) engine. The original gasoline-PI engine was also modified to a CNG bi-fuel system. The test results obtained from CNG fuel using two different systems (i.e. bi-fuel and DI) have been investigated and compared with the original gasoline engine. The objective of this investigation is to compare the test results between CNG-DI, with CNG-BI and gasoline-PI engines with the same displacement volume. It was found that the CNG-DI engine produces similar brake power at 6000 rpm and wide open throttle (WOT) but produces higher brake power at part load condition as compared to the original gasoline. The CNG-BI engine produces 23% lower brake power than the CNG-DI engine. The average brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of the CNG-DI engine was 0.28% and 8% lower than gasoline-PI and CNG-BI engines respectively. The CNG-DI engine reduces 42% NOx emission as compared to the base engine. However, the CNG-DI engine produces higher HC and CO emissions as compared to the base engine. This paper discusses a review on the direct injection (DI) natural gas engine with new information along with other investigations. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.