Future combustion methods for biomethane powered tractor engines

Biomethane represents an alternative to fossil fuels (petrol, diesel), not only in the on-road sector. Methane-based fuels come in focus of farmers in the agriculture sector, due to cost constraints, increasing regulation of pollutant emissions and reduction of carbondioxid. To represent a monovalent gas operation, a functional model is derived from a series diesel engine for agricultural use. On the test engine, systematic studies on the combustion process are carried out by cylinder pressure indication and exhaust-emission measurement. Combustion under stoichiometric conditions (with or without exhaust gas recirculation) as well as the conversion of fuel from excess air is observed. The study shows that with a natural-gas engine, a complex post-treatment system of exhaust gas (DOC + DPF + SCR) that is typically for diesel engines can be dispensed with. The exhaust gas limits in force since 2014 and a limitation of methane on 0,5 g/kWh can be met with a stoichiometric combustion concept and a three way catalytic converter optimized for the methane oxidation.