A Study on Combustion Process in Hydrogen/Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil Dual-Fuel Operation Using Hydroxyl Radical Chemiluminescence

This study investigated the combustion processes in hydrogen dual-fuel operation using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and diesel fuel as pilot fuels. The visualizations of hydrogen dual-fuel combustion processes were conducted using hydroxyl radical (OH*) chemiluminescence imaging in an optically accessible rapid compression and expansion machine (RCEM), which can simulate a compression and expansion stroke of a diesel engine. Pilot injection pressures of 40 and 80 MPa and injection quantities of 3, 6 mm³ for diesel fuel and to match the injected energy, 3.14, 6.27 mm³ of HVO were tested. The total excess air ratio was kept constant at 3.0. The RCEM was operated at a constant speed of 900 rpm, with in-cylinder pressure at top dead center (TDC) set to approximately 5.0 MPa. Results demonstrated that using HVO as pilot fuel, compared to diesel fuel, led to shorter ignition delay and combustion duration. OH* chemiluminescence imaging revealed that longer ignition delays observed with diesel fuel resulted in pilot mixture ignition downstream near the piston bowl wall, followed by flame propagation into the hydrogen–air mixture. In contrast, the shorter ignition delays characteristic of HVO caused the pilot mixture to ignite between the injector and the piston bowl wall, with subsequent flame propagation into the hydrogen premixture.