Simulating a conventional diesel engine fueled by dimethyl ether

Diesel engines are utilized in most of heavy duty vehicles as their good performance. However, fossil fuel is being depleted currently, and emissions from diesel engine contains many toxic substances such as CO, HC, NOx, PM…which effect adversely on environment and human health. Therefore, research and application of alternative fuels which are renewable and environment friendly are under consideration in countries and as well as Vietnam. Among these fuels, Dimethyl Ether (DME) is considered as the potential fuel for diesel engine. However, DME has some different properties compared to diesel, so that it is needed to modify the engine, especially the fuel system, to be suitable for DME fuel.

       This article studies the characteristics of conventional diesel engine fueled by DME. Diesel engine D243 is modeled by using AVL Boost software and the software also simulates engine performance and emissions of DME fueled. In the engine model, DME is injected directly into cylinder as the same way of diesel fuel. Engine power, fuel consumption, cylinder pressure and emissions at various engine speeds are calculated. Two situations are considered: the delivered DME fuel mass per cycle is kept similar to that of diesel fuel, and delivered DME fuel mass per cycle is increased to meet the original engine power. In this case, the CO, Knox, and especially soot reduce quite clearly. These preliminary results show the effect of DME fuel and ability to apply DME fuel on in-use conventional diesel engine in Vietnam.