Using gasoline in modified truck diesel engines can result in more than 50 percent fuel efficiency if the combustion process is done correctly, according to research conducted at Lund University in Sweden.
Researchers says that by employing a partially premixed combustion (PPC) process, fuel consumption for gasoline engines could reportedly be cut in half.
As reported by SAE Magazine, the concept engine has been developed to achieve the right amount of ignition delay between fuel injection and combustion, during which the mixing that happens produces minimal amounts of soot and nitric oxide. The result opens the possibility of a new generation of engines that would not require catalytic converters, the university claims.
Bengt Johansson, Professor of Combustion Engines at Lund University, and a 20-plus-year member of SAE International, said researchers hope to eventually achieve 60% efficiency with this type of PPC process.
“With late injection the emissions of HC and CO got all the way down to US10 levels without a catalyst as no fuel was trapped in crevices. With sufficient mixing before combustion, soot can be kept low and NOx can be handled with EGR (exhaust gas recirculation). The most important [aspect] is perhaps that it is possible to control burn rate with the fuel injection strategy. We can get fast enough burn with any combustion timing by adjusting the level of stratification using multiple injection,” Johansson told the publication.
The university says PPC is “a very promising concept” that it will continue to pursue.
Check out the video below to see the concept engine in action:
