Marine

Engineering

EDUCATE – ENHANCE – EMPOWER

Water Injection Innovation on

Diesel Engine Emissions
By:
Titus Kurniawan
4214101029
TABLE OF CONTENT
TABLE OF CONTENT ......................................................................................................................... 2
1. Background ..................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 5
3. Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 7
4. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 11
5. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 12

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 1. Background
Since the first introduction of diesel engine by Rudolf Diesel in 1890, diesel engine has a lot
of improvements. Nowadays, diesel engines with the advantages of high efficiency,
reliability, durability and the low operating cost make them as the most preferred engines,
both in industries and transportation services. Interest in diesel engines has risen day by day.
Along with the worldwide usage of diesel engines with their advantages, diesel engine
playing an important role in environmental pollution problems worldwide. The world become
a worse environment because of the pollutant since the industrial revolution, and it is getting
worse with the current industrial pace. Considering the role in the industrial world, diesel
engine considered as one of the biggest environmental pollution contributors with their
exhaust emissions. These emissions are responsible for several health problems.
Regulation about emissions itself regulated by MARPOL Annex VI. Although air pollution
from diesel engine does not give direct cause, such as oil tanker incident, air pollution causes
effect that contributes to the overall air quality problems encountered by populations in many
areas, and also affects the natural environment, such as tough acid rain.
MARPOL Annex VI itself divided into 3 tiers until now, Tier I, Tier II and Tier III. Tier I is
applicable for ship with pre-2000 engine. Tier II is applicable globally and Tier III is
applicable in NOx Emission Control Area. NOx itself can be reduced by cool down the
combustion process. Here mentioned the NOx limit according to MAPPOL Annex VI:

MARPOL Annex VI NOx Limit

Source : MARPOL Annex VI

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 Where NOx can be reduced by the injection timing, pressure, rate , exhaust recirculating etc. ,
SOx only can be reduced by using better diesel fuel oil quality, where the fuel contain lower
Sulphur. Here mentioned the regulation based on MARPOL Annex VI :

MARPOL Annex VI SOx Limit

Source : MARPOL Annex VI

Nowadays, policy makers are imposing regulation to reduce the negative effects of diesel
engine emissions on human health and environment. While the researcher try to solve this
problem with the new invention and breakthrough in diesel engine, such as in this article is
“Water Injection” as a new invention in diesel engine that able to reduce the NOx emission.

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 2. Introduction
In diesel engines, NOx formation is a phenomenon that depends on the high temperature of
the combustion chamber itself and takes place when the temperature exceeds 500K.
Therefore, in order to reduce the NOx emissions in the exhaust, it is necessary to keep the
temperature of the combustion chamber under control. One of the simple way to reduce the
NOx emission of a diesel engine by late injection of fuel into the combustion chamber. With
the effectiveness of the technique of late injection, this increase the fuel consumption by 10-
15% , where in industry world, fuel are one of the consideration because of the price itself.
Thereby need to find another solution which may increase the efficiency of the engine as well
environmental friendly. Water injection method is applied to a direct injection diesel engine
to control NOx emissions. Water injection has various effects on diesel combustion such as
the dilution effect, thermal effect and chemical effect and all of them contributed to NOx and
soot reduction. [1]. The decrease of soot and particular matter emissions with water injection
was reported as result of micro-explosions or sudden expansion caused by the effect of water
vaporizing within the fuel droplets during the droplet heating period [1]. Also the reduction
of particular matters and soot emissions was explained due the increase of total injected mass
that increases the mixing rate between fuel and air.
There are also several practical ways to inducing water into combustion chamber [3]. First
using the water injection in the intake manifold. Second by direct water injection in engine
cylinder using a separate injection pump and injection nozzle. And the last one is the fuel-
water emulsion. The introducing water into the cylinder of the diesel itself may sound
controversial, where engineers have been trying to protect the combustion chamber from
water contamination, be it from fuel or rom condensation in intake air cooler. The
background of the controversy itself come from the water addition that may destroy the
lubrication oil film, thus destroy the machine itself. While research showed where once
water evaporated, it can no longer affect the lube oil film [4]. Further concern have been
raised that increased of water vapor in engine cylinder may bring condensation of water and
leading to corrosion problems.

Figure 1 Water to Engine Addition Methods

https://www.dieselnet.com/tech/engine_water.php

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 Fumigation is where liquid water injected into intake manifold upstream of the intake valve.
The fumigation has shown to reduce NOx emissions in direct injection diesel engine, but
caused the liquid water in the combustion chamber where it is less effective at reducing
emissions. Therefore fumigation require at least twice liquid volume for the same NOx
reduction in engine using direct water injection. As consideration, liquid water present after
combustion may contaminate the oil and increase engine wear as the result.

Emulsified fuel and water shown that it can be used as alternative fuel and able to reduce NOx
and particulate matters emissions. However emulsified fuel blends tend to lower the
combustion temperature. Lower temperatures too early in combustion will lead to increased
ignition delay and engine noise. Although there is little or no engine cost when using emulsified
fuels, the engine injection timing must be changed to the new setting of the new mixture.

Direct water injection has both advantages from fumigation and emulsion fuel. Direct water
injection having the liquid water close to the flame and away from the wall. Unlike the
emulsified fuels, direct water injection allows the fuel water percentage to be changed for cold
start or different load engine [5] .

Figure 2

Operation of a typical Fuel-Water Injection

Source : Effects of Direct Water Injection on DI Diesel Engine Combustion, Copyright :2000 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc

Direct water injection using dual feed injection nozzle with corresponding water supply system.
Water supply system itself does not need to support high pressures like fuel injection system.

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 3. Analysis
Direct water injection system itself is a complex system, where the positioning itself matters
and may cause the effect of cooling down the engine cylinder, as well as reducing the NOx
and particular matter as the result. Here mentioned bellow the result of research from the
material of Ship Diesel Engines and Plants [6] about the location of the water injector nozzle
tested on the SULZER Diesel Engine 4RTX554 :

Source : Ship Diesel Engines and Plants - Double Degree ITS Houchschule Wismar Material

The graphic result shown that the location of nozzle may effect directly about the water
consumption in g/kWh and as well the NOx emissions production in SULZER Diesel
Engine 4RTX554.

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 For another further reference, combustion models have been validated by Dittrich [3] and
Schwarz [11] in a number of studies of Daimler Chrysler heavy-duty diesel engines.
Specifications and operating conditions are given in Table 1.

Source :
Effects of Direct Water Injection on DI Diesel Engine Combustion, Copyright :2000 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc

In the graphic below we can see the simulation and experiment, as well as the connection
between soot emission and the fuel water ratio in the each load data. In figure 3 we can
see the difference between computation and experimental data. Where we can see the soot
values at 86% underpredicted and at 44% load data are over predicted. In figure 4 we
can see the connection between SFC and NOx in experimental and computerized. Where
there still some differences the same as the figure before. But the water injection have
been reducing the NOx as well as the soot emissions.

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 Figure 3 Figure 3
Soot vs. %Water tradeoff curve for 86% and 44% load SFC vs. NOx tradeoff curve for 86% and 44% loads for
points for experiment and simulation the computations of the baseline, 30% and 45% fuel-
water ratio simulations.

Source :
Effects of Direct Water Injection on DI Diesel Engine Combustion, Copyright :2000
Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc

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 Water Injection itself also able to reduce the temperature of cylinder in diesel engine, that is
one factor that make water injection able to reduce the NOx emissions. To find the
underlying mechanism behind the differences in pollutant production between the engine
cases considered, the maximum, minimum and average temperatures were calculated inside
the spray vapor plume. The vapor plume was calculated by finding the cells where carbon
species were present and obtaining the necessary temperatures. For an initial condition
including EGR, the criteria would be modified to consider the initial carbon element mass
fraction.

Figure 5
Calculation of maximum, minimum and average
temperature inside the spray plume for the 86% load
case and for the baseline and 45% fuel/water mixture.
Figure 5
Calculation of maximum, minimum and average
temperature inside the spray plume for the 44% load case
and for the baseline and 45% fuel/water mixture.

Source :
Effects of Direct Water Injection on DI Diesel Engine Combustion, Copyright :2000
Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc

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 4. Conclusion
This report describes the modeling of water injection as a practical NOx reduction technology for
direct injection Diesel engines. The water injection model was verified against experimental high
temperature spray data and was used to gain additional insight into multiple liquid spray
phenomena. It was shown that the latent heat of vaporization was the physical property that
caused the liquid in a fully mixed spray of fuel and water to penetrate further than a spray of the
same volume of fuel alone. The bomb simulation of a completely mixed fuel-water spray showed
that the liquid spray tip penetration increases by approximately 35% due mostly to the high latent
heat of the water.

The mechanism for the lower temperatures with water injection is that both the vaporization of
liquid water and an increase in specific heat of the gas around the flame. If too much water is
used, the volume of injected liquid increases to the point where the injection duration is too long
and the soot emissions increase. DW injection has advantages over other water injection
techniques, namely fumigation and emulsified fuels, however is expensive to implement.
Additionally, further study is needed to find the best fuel/water percentage for various operating
conditions.

The challenges facing this technology are difficult to overcome, however if fuel prices increase
and emissions regulations continue to tighten, the direct water injection technique could become
a viable option for direct injection Diesel Engine.

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 5. References
1. Greeves G, Khan IM, Onion G. Effects of water introduction on diesel engine combustion
and emissions. International Symposium on Combustion 1977 Dec 31 ( Vol. 16, No. 1,
pp. 321 -326). Elsevier
2. Bady M, Rahman A, Kosaka H, Nour M, Effect of Water Injection into Exhaust Manifold
on Diesel Engine Combustion and Emissions 2016 September, Japan
3. Wirbeleit, F., Enderle, CH., Lehner, W., Raab, A., Binder, K., “Stratified Diesel Fuel
Water--Diesel Fuel Injection Combined with EGR -- The Most Efficient In—Cylinder
NOx and PM Reduction Technology”, SAE 972962, 1997
4. Holtbecker, R., Geist, M., 1998. “Exhaust emissions reduction technology for Sulzer
marine diesel engines: General aspects”, Wärtsilä NSD Switzerland Ltd., Winterthur,
Switzerland, July 1998
5. Bedford, F., Rutland, C., 2000. “ Effects of Direct Water Injection on DI Diesel Engine
Combustion.” Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
6. Exhaust Emissions Theory – Ship Diesel Engines & Plant

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