Applied Energy 157 (2015) 814823

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Application of a multi-zone combustion model to investigate the NOx

reduction potential of two-stroke marine diesel engines using EGR q
Spiridon I. Raptotasios a,, Nikolaos F. Sakellaridis a, Roussos G. Papagiannakis b, Dimitrios T. Hountalas a
a
Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory, Thermal Engineering Department, School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), 9 Iroon
Polytechniou St., Zografou Campus, 15780 Athens, Greece
b
Thermodynamic & Propulsion Systems Section, Aeronautical Sciences Department, Hellenic Air Force Academy (HAFA), Dekelia Air Force Base, Military Post 1010, Dekelia,
Attiki, Greece

h i g h l i g h t s

 Application of a multi-zone combustion model on a 2-stroke marine diesel engine.

 The model was modied to consider EGR application.
 Model validation after calibration only at one load point without EGR.
 Model applied for prediction of EGR effect on NOx emissions and engine performance.
 Investigation of EGR effect on in-cylinder combustion and NOx formation mechanisms.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The most promising solution for propulsion of marine vessels currently and for the near future is the two-
Received 30 August 2014 stroke low-speed diesel engines. Despite its advantages, as far as specic fuel oil consumption, power
Received in revised form 27 November 2014 density and reliability is concerned, it suffers from increased NOx emissions mainly because of its low
Accepted 21 December 2014
rotational speed. But the upcoming NOx emission legislation (Tier III) in the marine sector requires con-
Available online 22 January 2015
siderable reduction of NOx emissions towards levels which have not yet been commercially achieved
using primary methods. This creates new challenges for the development and application of innovative
Keywords:
techniques that could reduce engines NOx emissions with the lowest possible fuel penalty. This is impor-
Multi-zone combustion model
Exhaust Gas Recirculation
tant considering current and future fuel prices. The large size of the 2-stroke marine engine makes the use
NOx emissions of experimental techniques, to investigate this potential, expensive and time consuming. Modelling can
Two-stroke low-speed diesel engine signicantly contribute towards this effort and result to reduction of research and development cost.
Engine performance Among the most effective in-cylinder techniques for NOx reduction is EGR, a proven technology for smal-
ler engines used in the transport sector. In the present study, it is investigated via modelling, the potential
to reduce NOx emissions of two-stroke marine engines using EGR. Despite the technological difculties
resulting mainly from the use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), which makes the application of conventional EGR
techniques difcult, it is worthwhile investigating the NOx reduction potential, since signicant progress
has been achieved towards the development of new EGR gas cooling techniques and scrubber technolo-
gies for removal of sulphur species from the exhaust gas. The present investigation makes use of an exist-
ing well validated multi-zone combustion model, initially developed for high-speed DI diesel engines.
The model has been successfully applied in the past, to investigate heavy duty diesel engine NOx reduc-
tion via EGR, providing favourable results. Currently it is modied and applied on a two-stroke marine
diesel engine using EGR. Model evaluation is based on experimental data acquired from the international
literature, due to lack of experimental data for 2-stroke engines. The analysis of derived results reveals
models ability to predict both engine performance and NOx emissions but most important the ability

q
This paper is included in the Special Issue of Clean Transport edited by Prof.
Anthony Roskilly, Dr. Roberto Palacin and Prof. Yan.
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: raptosp@central.ntua.gr (S.I. Raptotasios), nikolaossak@
hotmail.com (N.F. Sakellaridis), papgian@central.ntua.gr (R.G. Papagiannakis),
dx1961@central.ntua.gr (D.T. Hountalas).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.12.041
0306-2619/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 S.I. Raptotasios et al. / Applied Energy 157 (2015) 814823 815

to predict the overall effect of EGR on NOx emissions in a qualitatively correct way. The results also reveal
the strong potential of EGR to control NOx emissions of 2-stroke engines with relatively low fuel penalty
compared to alternative techniques.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction measures is required. Specically, the combination of a technique

Since July 2005, the 53rd session of the Marine Environment
Protection Committee (MEPC) agreed on the need to review Annex
VI and the NOx Technical Code [1,2]. At its 58th session in October
2008, the MEPC approved the proposed amendments to the MAR-
POL Annex VI regulations [24]. The revised Annex VI, and the
associated NOx Technical Code, came into force on the 1st of July
2010 and dened the corresponding Tier I, Tier II and Tier III limits.
Currently Tier II is applicable but Tier III, which will come into
force for vessels launched after 1st of January 2016, will require
signicant reduction of NOx emissions for vessels operating in
Emission Control Areas (ECA) to levels which have not yet been
commercially achieved [2,3].
Meanwhile new Emission Control Areas are constantly desig-
nated. Therefore several mandatory measures are adopted to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) from international ship-
ping and to improve energy efciency [2,5]. This introduces new
challenges and the need for development of innovative techniques
on marine diesel engine emission reduction. Such techniques
should drastically reduce marine engine NOx emissions with the
lowest engine operating and nancial cost and with the lowest
negative impact on greenhouse gas emissions.
There exist various NOx abatement techniques currently
applied on marine and stationary diesel engines and several others
capable of massive NOx reduction such as Selective Catalytic
Reduction (SCR) or Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) along with
proven and easily applicable internal measures such as slide fuel
valves, injection timing retard etc., could be a promising approach
[911,13,14].
Exhaust Gas Recirculation is, as already stated, widely used on
diesel engines in the transport sector being one of the most effec-
tive in-cylinder NOx reduction methods [1524]. The overall effect
of EGR on diesel engine combustion characteristics and NOx emis-
sions is the outcome of the following three main mechanisms
[22,2528]:
 Thermal mechanism: The increase of charge mixture specic
heat capacity (due to higher specic heat capacities of recircu-
lated CO2 and H2O) results to the reduction of in-cylinder gas
temperature, drastically reducing NOx formation.
 Dilution mechanism: The Oxygen concentration of the intake
air is decreased because of its displacement by CO2 and H2O
leading in most cases to the reduction of local combustion rate
and temperature. However, the greatest impact constitutes the
Table 1
NOx reduction potential of abatement techniques.

necessitated by the upcoming emission limits which are still under NOx abatement techniques NOx reduction
development and/or evaluation. The majority of these techniques Alternative Fuels 5060%
or measures have been successfully applied in the past on Heavy Emulsified Fuel Water Addition 5060%
Duty DI diesel engines in the transport sector. A classication of Basic IEM Slide Fuel Valves 20%
these techniques is provided in Fig. 1 [612]. Injection timing retardation 30%
Compression Ratio Modification 1030%
The effectiveness of the aforementioned techniques is based on Injection System Modification 30%
the nominal NOx reduction and on the corresponding effect on Scavenge/Charge Air Cooling 14%
other pollutants and mostly on specic fuel consumption. The Scavenge/Charge Air Pressure Increase 1040%
NOx reduction potential for the most important techniques is dis- Direct Water Injection (DWI) 4060%
Humid Air Motor (HAM) 7080%
played in Table 1 [79,12,13].
Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) 8098%
From this table it is concluded that to drastically reduce NOx Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) 8099%
and comply with future emission regulations, a combination of

Fig. 1. Schematic view of the currently applied and the developing NOx abatement techniques.
816 S.I. Raptotasios et al. / Applied Energy 157 (2015) 814823
reduction of local oxygen availability inside the fuel jet result-
ing to the suppression of the kinetically-controlled local NOx
formation rate.
 Chemical dissociation mechanism: The recirculated water
vapour and CO2 dissociate during combustion, directly affecting
the combustion process and the in-cylinder NOx formation rate.
However, despite the benecial NOx emission reduction which
necessitates the use of EGR, the aforementioned mechanisms can
result to an increase of specic fuel consumption and mainly par-
ticulate emissions as a consequence of the well-known NOx-bsfc
and NOx-Soot trade-offs [1517,22,2933].
It is reasonable to assume that the recirculation of a portion of
exhaust gas inside the combustion chamber of a two-stroke low-
speed diesel engine would have a similar positive effect on NOx
emissions. This is veried by lab investigations where several cases
have been examined and high EGR rates (up to 39%) have been
implemented revealing that compliance with Tier III NOx emis-
sions is feasible using only EGR [13,34]. These investigations have
been conducted using high-pressure loop EGR. The required pres-
sure increase of the exhaust gases (for the recirculation) is
achieved using a high pressure EGR blower. The recirculated
exhaust gases pass through a scrubber and an EGR cooler and pen-
etrate into the charge air path upstream of the charge-air cooler
and downstream of the compressor [13,3436].
However, the use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) in low-speed two-
stroke diesel engines still imposes constraints for the commercial
application of EGR. This is mainly attributed to the increased risk
of corrosion wear of engines components due to the high sulphur
content of the fuel, which results to formation of sulphuric acid
[8,11,13,37]. Increased particulate matter from the use of EGR
results to lube oil contamination and thus increase of deterioration
and wear [6,8,11,15,22,33]. Last but not least an additional prob-
lem is cooling of the EGR gas due to the increased risk of EGR cooler
and charge-air cooler fouling.
A possible solution to the previous technical issues appears to
be the use of seawater EGR scrubbers, where signicant progress
has been achieved [12,13,3436,3840]. An experimental investi-
gation conducted on a test engine demonstrated that SO2 can be
reduced up to 98% with a typical value of 90% while particulates
can be reduced up to 92% with a typical value of 7080%
[9,12,34,38].In addition it is mentioned that suitable EGR cooling
techniques are being developed revealing that it is feasible to
achieve efcient EGR cooling without fouling issues.
A service test for EGR utilization is currently in progress on-
board a commercial vessel after retrotting the EGR system on
the M/E (main engine). The required conguration to make EGR
application on two-stroke marine diesel engines feasible is
described by detail in the literature [13].The results referring to
NOx reduction appear to be encouraging without signicant risk
of wear [13].
Because of this, development of two stroke engines with EGR
components integrated into the engine structure has initiated
[3436]. An engine equipped with an integrated high-pressure
EGR system has already been installed on-board a 4500 teu
(twenty-foot equivalent unit) container vessel. This system is com-
prised of two turbochargers (one small and one large) which for
Tier II operation are both active and the EGR components inactive.
This is the economy engine running mode, which facilitates an
approximate 4 g/kWh fueloil saving at part-load operation, com-
pared to the standard Tier II engine, accomplished through a com-
bination of sequential turbocharging, turbocharger cut-out and low
EGR rates. In the EGR mode, which is IMO Tier III compliant mode
for ECA operation the small turbocharger is by-passed and the EGR
system is activated. Testing in this mode achieved a low bsfc pen-
alty equivalent to 14 g/kWh, compared to the standard Tier II
engine. The EGR system layout for the different engine running
modes is described by detail in the literature [3436]. In this refer-
ence it is also comprehensively described the engine outline with
the various feasible integrated EGR congurations along with the
necessary auxiliary systems for EGR operation [3436].
Considering the previous it is thus worthwhile investigating via
modelling the NOx reduction potential of two-stroke low-speed
diesel engines using EGR and its impact on engine performance
to avoid the extremely high cost and time consuming procedure
of an experimental investigation.
For this reason a theoretical investigation is performed in the
present work to evaluate the effect of EGR on the performance
characteristics and pollutant emissions of a low-speed two-stroke
diesel engine using an existing well validated multi-zone combus-
tion model [30,41]. The specic model has been initially developed
for four stroke high-speed DI diesel engines and has been modied
herein to properly describe the processes of the two-stroke operat-
ing cycle and mainly the use of EGR on a two-stroke diesel engine
[42,43]. The model has been successfully applied in the past, to
investigate heavy duty diesel engine NOx reduction via EGR, pro-
viding favourable results [29,44].
The results of the present work indicate the models ability to
adequately predict both performance and NOx emissions of the
two-stoke marine diesel engine considered at several engine oper-
ating conditions comprising of variations in load and EGR rate. Fur-
thermore it is veried the NOx reduction potential of two-stroke
marine diesel engines using EGR which is accompanied by a rela-
tively low fuel penalty.
2. Brief description of the model
Details concerning the main structure and the physical and
chemical sub-models of the engine simulation code have been pre-
sented in the past and can be retrieved from previous publications
[29,4144]. Herein focus is given on modications of the model,
which were necessary to describe the processes of the entire
two-stroke diesel engines operating cycle. These are the following:
 Modication of the gas exchange mechanism (method of lling
and emptying) to comply with the two-stroke cycle.
 Introduction of a two-zone scavenging model for two-stroke
turbocharged engines.
 Modication of the jet formation model to account for the dif-
ferent geometry and jet axis location.
 Modications in the mathematical treatment especially for the
evaporation, mixing and combustion mechanisms to account
for the low rotational speed (reduction of calculation time step
to 0.1 deg CA). For the evaporation process of injected fuel an even
lower time step has been used corresponding to 0.01 deg CA.
The scavenging model and the modications of the gas
exchange mechanism and jet formation model have been pre-
sented by detail in previous publications [42,43]. Thus for the sake
of space only a brief outline is presented in the following text.
The combustion model used is a multi-zone phenomenological
one where the fuel jet, resulting after injection, is divided into dis-
crete volumes, called zones. The zones are extended in the three
dimensions according to a concentric consideration. The pressure
is considered uniform throughout the combustion chamber. Each
zone has its own history of temperature, composition etc., which
are determined by applying the rst law of thermodynamics as
well as the conservation equations for mass and momentum. This
enables the detailed prediction of the local thermodynamic proper-
ties of the in-cylinder mixture and their corresponding effect on
the formation of NO.
 S.I. Raptotasios et al. / Applied Energy 157 (2015) 814823
Fig. 2a. Zone formation on the rz plane normal to injection direction.
Fig. 2b. Zone formation on the xr plane.
A description of the method used to divide the jet into zones is
given in Figs. 2a and 2b where a representative division into axial
and radial zones can be observed. The number of axial zones is
determined by the duration of fuel injection and the calculation
time step used, while the number of zones in the two directions
normal to it is determined by making trials and nding the number
from which a further increase results to no modication of model
results. In the present work, a number of ve zones are used in the
radial direction and eight in the circumferential direction.
The contents of each zone are initially assumed to consist only
of air and perfect combustion products (O2, N2, CO2 and H2O). A
complete chemical equilibrium scheme is then applied and the
equilibrium mixture composition is calculated considering 11
chemical species (O2, N2, CO2, H2O, H, H2, N, NO, O, OH, CO). The
formation of nitric oxide is controlled by chemical kinetics. In the
present work, the extended Zeldovich mechanism [16,45] is used
involving the following three reactions which are given along with
the corresponding forward reaction rate constants (kf):
k1f
O N2 $ NO N; k1f 1:6  1010
 
k2f 3125
N O2 $ NO O; k2f 6:4  106  T  exp
T
k3f
N OH $ NO H; k3f 4:2  1010
The variation of NO concentration in each zone is expressed by:
1 dNOV 21  b2 R1
   4
V dt 1 b  R2RR
1 Test cases examined.
3
where R1 = k1f[N]e[NO]e, R2 = k2f[N]e[O2]e, R3 = k3f[N]e[OH]e and
b NO=NOe . In the previous relations index e denotes equilib-
rium and [x] denotes concentration of x species. Integrating the pre-
vious differential equation, we obtain the NO concentration inside
each zone.
817
Table 2
4T50ME-X test engine specications.
Bore 500 mm
Stroke 2200 mm
Connecting rod length 2885 mm
Compression ratio 18.2
MCR speed 123 rpm
MCR power 7050 kW
MCR Mean Effective Pressure 20 bar
3. Description of the test engine test cases examined
The present computational investigation is conducted on the
MAN B&W Diesel 4T50ME-X test engine for which experimental
data are obtained from the literature [14,37]. The specic engine
is a four cylinder uni-ow scavenged two-stroke research diesel
engine, equipped with full electronic-hydraulic control of the fuel
injection and the exhaust valve timing. The characteristic geomet-
rical parameters of the engine are summarized in Table 2.
The test cases considered for this theoretical investigation are
presented in Table 3. Initially the model was calibrated for the
operating point of 75% load without EGR. Then model results for
the remaining test cases were compared to the experimental ones
to validate the models ability to predict the performance and NOx
emissions at various operating conditions. Next it was examined
the use of EGR as shown in Table 3 and the derived results of test
case 2 were considered to investigate the effect of EGR on the com-
bustion and NOx formation mechanisms.
4. Model calibration initial model validation
As already mentioned the model is initially evaluated concern-
ing its ability to predict performance and NOx emissions at various
operating conditions without EGR. Model evaluation is based on
experimental data, for performance and emissions at four different
operating conditions, acquired from the international literature
[14,37,46]. The test cases considered where: I: 25% (78 rpm), II:
50% (98 rpm), III: 75% (112 rpm) and IV: 100% (123 rpm) of the
maximum continuous rating (MCR) under the propeller law.
The data used for initial model validation were the measured
cylinder pressure, the respective heat release rate, global perfor-
mance data (power, specic fuel consumption etc.) and tailpipe
NOx (as equivalent NO2) emissions. Model calibration was con-
ducted at 75% load without EGR and then model constants were
kept constant for the remaining operating points and for the con-
sequent EGR investigation.
An appropriate method to evaluate models ability to predict
engine performance and the combustion mechanism is to compare
the cylinder pressure and net heat release rate diagrams.
In Fig. 3(a)(d) is given the comparison between measured and
1 calculated in-cylinder pressure histories. As observed, the simula-
tion code manages to accurately predict the cylinder pressure trace
2 at all engine operating conditions examined.
To evaluate models capability to predict the combustion mech-
3 anism a comparison is given in Fig. 4(a)(d) between the measured
and calculated cumulative net heat release. Model predictive abil-
Table 3
Test case 1: Load Variation, EGR rate 0%
Load % 25 50 75 100
Test case 2: EGR Variation, Load 75%
EGR rate (%) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
818 S.I. Raptotasios et al. / Applied Energy 157 (2015) 814823
(a) 25% of full engine load
(c) 75% of full engine load
Fig. 3. Comparison between the calculated and measured in-cylinder pressure traces for: (a) 25%, (b) 50%, (c) 75% and (d) 100% of full engine load at 0% EGR.
ity is encouraging, despite the fact that the injection prole was
not granted by the literature. To overcome this the injection rate
was assumed to be constant which is partially responsible for the
slight deviations observed at high load. In general the model
appears to adequately predict the in cylinder cumulative net heat
release providing a clear indication for models ability to ade-
quately describe the combustion mechanism of the two-stroke
low-speed diesel engine at all loads examined.
To further validate models ability to predict overall engine per-
formance, the calculated values of several basic engine perfor-
mance parameters are compared against the corresponding
measured ones. The comparison is depicted in Fig. 5(a)(d), for
the following parameters: (a) Power output, (b) brake specic fuel
consumption (bsfc), (c) Peak ring pressure and compression
pressure (d) and Turbine Inlet Temperature respectively. The
evaluation is conducted for all four operating points examined
(I: 25%78 rpm, II: 50%98 rpm, III: 75%112 rpm and IV: 100%
123 rpm of the maximum continuous rating) that cover the entire
operating range of the engine.
As shown the model accurately predicts the main engine oper-
ating parameters. The calculated values of power output, brake
specic fuel consumption, peak ring pressure and peak compres-
sion pressure match well the measured ones. The maximum rela-
tive errors are 3.4%, 3.3%, 0.6% and 2.4% for power output, brake
specic fuel consumption, peak ring pressure and peak compres-
sion pressure respectively. These peak relative errors refer to the
low-load (25%) case while for the other loads they are below
(b) 50% of full engine load
(d) 100% of full engine load
0.5%. On the other hand, a higher relative error (up to 6%) is
observed for turbine inlet temperature (Fig. 5(d)), whereas the
overall trend of the temperature variation with engine load is cap-
tured. This is normal considering the uncertainty of exhaust gas
temperature measurement in general. It is thus demonstrated from
Figs. 35, that the overall performance of the two-stroke low-speed
diesel engine is adequately predicted by the model.
Considering that the main purpose of the present study is to
investigate the NOx reduction potential of two-stroke diesel
engines using EGR, it is examined models ability to predict NOx
emissions (as equivalent NO2). The comparison between the exper-
imental and predicted values of NOx emissions is depicted in Fig. 6,
where an adequate convergence between measured and calculated
values is observed. The relative errors are 3.5%, 5%, 0% and 7.5% for
the 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of full engine load respectively which
is encouraging since the main target when investigating NOx emis-
sions is to capture trends. It is thus veried the predictive ability of
the simulation for performance and NOx emissions of the specic
two stroke marine diesel engine enabling its use for the examina-
tion of EGR effect.
5. Model application for EGR effect on NOx emissions
In the present section it is evaluated models ability to predict
the effect of EGR on NOx emissions and most important to examine
the effect of EGR percentage on two-stroke slow speed diesel
 S.I. Raptotasios et al. / Applied Energy 157 (2015) 814823
(a) 25% of full engine load
(c) 75% of full engine load
Fig. 4. Comparison between the calculated and measured cumulative net heat release for: (a) 25%, (b) 50%, (c) 75% and (d) 100% of full engine load at 0% EGR.
engines. For this reason the application of EGR is focused at 75%
load from which data were available. Another reason for selecting
the specic load point i.e. 75% is its high weighting factor in the E3
test cycle which denes the maximum allowable NOx emission
limits for marine diesel engines according to IMO regulations [4].
For the investigation it is assumed that the scavenge air pressure
remains constant when introducing EGR resulting to the reduction
of in-cylinder air/fuel equivalence ratio (lambda), since EGR
replaces an equal amount of air. It is also assumed that the back-
pressure remains constant, since EGR is assisted using an EGR
blower. Model evaluation is conducted using available experimen-
tal data for EGR rates up to 39% [13].
The results are depicted in Fig. 7. As observed the multi-zone
combustion model predicts the effect of EGR on NOx emission with
minor deviations which demonstrates the reliability of the models
results. For the specic Tier-I engine EGR rates in the range of 18
20% and 3637% are required to achieve Tier-II and Tier-III emis-
sion limits respectively. It is thus concluded that the multi-zone
combustion model can become a useful tool for the investigation
of EGR as a NOx reduction technique, providing fundamental infor-
mation for the reduction mechanisms involved. Furthermore, as
revealed in Fig. 7, in general there exists a linear correlation
between EGR rate and NOx reduction (especially for EGR rates
above 5%). The slope of this curve is 25% NOx reduction/10% EGR
rate.
819
(b) 50% of full engine load
(d) 100% of full engine load
6. Effect of EGR on the combustion and NOx formation
mechanisms
An advantage of the simulation model is that it can be used to
obtain information for the fundamental effect of EGR on both the
combustion and NOx formation mechanisms of two-stroke, slow
speed marine diesel engines. Towards this direction, in Fig. 8 is
provided the in-cylinder NOx formation for various EGR rates. As
observed the NOx reduction rate is becoming slightly more intense
with EGR rate increase. Moreover, it is noted that NOx formation
freezes at almost the same crank angle degree, regardless of the
EGR rate. This is an indication that EGR affects mainly the rate of
NOx formation and not the formation period.
To further investigate the effect of EGR on the combustion char-
acteristics, the aforementioned main NOx formation mechanisms
are considered. For this reason the in-cylinder histories of overall
O2 concentration inside the fuel jet, mean gas temperature, net
heat release rate and cumulative net heat release versus EGR rates
are given in Figs. 912.
Fig. 9 which provides the total oxygen concentration inside the
fuel jet provides an explanation for the effect of the dilution mech-
anism. As observed, there is a signicant reduction of O2 percent-
age with the increase of EGR, approaching the value of 50% for
40% EGR rate, which is the most important NOx reducing mecha-
nism. However O2 percentage reduction, results to the reduction
820 S.I. Raptotasios et al. / Applied Energy 157 (2015) 814823

(a) Brake Power (b) brake specific fuel consumption

(c) Maximum Combustion and Compres- (d) Turbine Inlet temperature

sion Pressure
Fig. 5. Comparison between the calculated and measured values of (a) Brake Power (b) brake specic fuel consumption (c) maximum combustion and compression pressure
(d) turbine inlet temperature.

Fig. 6. Comparison between the calculated and measured values of NOx emissions.
of local combustion rate and thus gas temperatures reducing fur-
ther NOx formation rate.
The effect of EGR on the thermal mechanism due to the increase
of the charge mixture heat capacity (higher specic heat capacities
of recirculated CO2 and H2O) is shown in Fig. 10. From this it is evi-
dent the reduction of the peak combustion temperature with EGR
rate (which is mainly the result of the thermal mechanism) con-
tributing signicantly to the reduction of NOx.
Finally the net heat release rate and the corresponding cumula-
tive net heat release for various EGR rates are shown in Figs. 11 and
12. Generally the lack of oxygen (dilution mechanism), when EGR
is applied, results to the reduction of combustion rate and to the
increase of combustion duration. As a result, brake power is
slightly decreased (for the same fuelling rate) whereas brake spe-
cic fuel consumption and soot formation both increase (NOx-bsfc
and NOx-Soot trade off). This is clearly observed in Fig. 13 where it
is given the percentage variation of bsfc vs EGR rate. These effects
are in accordance to the international literature, for application of
EGR on high speed diesel engines [2933,44]. It is to be stated that
these negative effects appear to be less pronounced in the slow
speed marine diesel engine due to the higher time duration of
the in-cylinder processes as a result of the lower rotational speed
and the higher air fuel ratios [13]. This is clearly observed in Figs. 11
and 12 where it is evident that the effect of EGR on the heat release
rate becomes signicant only for high EGR rates.
Furthermore it is concluded from Fig. 13 that the bsfc increase
for low EGR rates (up to 20%) is negligible, while for Tier III appli-
cation (more than 35% EGR rate according to Fig. 7) the bsfc
increase is in the range of 4%. The difference in absolute values is
 S.I. Raptotasios et al. / Applied Energy 157 (2015) 814823 821

Fig. 9. Effect of EGR on calculated total O2 Concentration inside the fuel jet.

Fig. 7. Comparison between calculated and measured NOx emissions vs EGR at 75%
Load.

Fig. 10. Effect of EGR on calculated mean in-cylinder gas Temperature.

Fig. 8. Effect of EGR on calculated in-cylinder NOx Formation.

most possibly attributed to the uncertainties of engine data since

as mentioned the last have been obtained from the literature. What
is important is that order of magnitude is similar and most impor-
tant the trend of bsfc variation vs. EGR rate is captured.

7. Conclusions Fig. 11. Effect of EGR on calculated in-cylinder Net Heat Release Rate.

In the present study an existing well validated multi-zone com-

bustion model, initially developed for high-speed DI diesel engines
and successfully applied in the past has been applied on a two- The model was modied to consider for application of EGR on
stroke marine diesel engine to investigate the NOx reduction two-stroke engines and calibrated at a single load point without
potential via EGR. EGR. It was then evaluated at various operating conditions to
822 S.I. Raptotasios et al. / Applied Energy 157 (2015) 814823
Fig. 12. Effect of EGR on calculated in-cylinder cumulative net heat release.
Fig. 13. Effect of EGR on brake specic fuel consumption.
examine its ability to predict both engine performance and NOx
emissions. After calibration model constants were kept constant
for the entire investigation.
The comparison between experimental and calculated values
without EGR revealed that the multi-zone combustion model can
adequately describe the combustion mechanism of a two-stroke
marine diesel engine. Specically the following parameters were
compared:
 Cylinder pressure.
 Cumulative Net heat release.
 Power output.
 Brake specic fuel consumption (bsfc).
 Maximum combustion pressure and compression pressure.
 Turbine Inlet Temperature.
 Exhaust NOx Emissions.
From this evaluation procedure models ability to capture both
performance and NOx emissions of the two-stoke marine diesel
engine considered was demonstrated.
Then the model was applied to investigate the effect of EGR on
performance and NOx emissions. The investigation was conducted
at 75% load considering various EGR rates for which experimental
data were available. As revealed the multi-zone combustion model
predicts adequately the effect of EGR on NOx emissions, at least
qualitatively.
The model was also used to examine the fundamental effect of
EGR on the in-cylinder combustion and NOx formation mecha-
nisms. Towards this direction, results have been provided for in-
cylinder NOx formation vs. EGR rate. Using this procedure, it was
possible to isolate the various mechanisms related with the effect
of EGR on NOx formation. The signicant effect of both the dilution
and the thermal mechanisms has been depicted through the effect
of EGR on the overall O2 concentration inside the fuel jet and on in-
cylinder gas temperature respectively.
To provide an indication for the corresponding fuel penalty,
results have been provided for the variation of bsfc vs EGR, as well
as for the effect of EGR on net heat release rate, and the cumulative
net heat release. As also stated in the literature, the negative effect
of EGR is lower in the case of a two-stroke slow speed diesel engine
compared to common HD high speed DI engines due to the higher
time available for combustion and the higher air fuel ratios
involved.
From the derived results, which are promising, it is encouraged
the further development and application of the model on other
two-stroke marine diesel engine designs to develop a tool that
could assist engine development. This is signicantly important
for large two-stroke marine engines which due to their size do
not enable the extended use of experimental techniques.
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