International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)

Volume 9, Issue 13, December 2018,

201 pp. 25–33, Article ID: IJMET_09_13_004
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijmet/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=13
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF
OF CNG AS
ANALTERNATIVE FUEL FOR
FOR MARINE DIESEL
ENGINE
Nilam S.
S Octaviani, Semin, M. B. Zaman
Department of Marine Engineering,
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember,
Kampus ITS Sukolilo (60111), Surabaya, Indonesia

B. Sudarmanta
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember,
Kampus ITS Sukolilo (60111), Surabaya, Indonesia

ABSTRACT
The global issue about energy source availability
ability and environmental problem are
attractive issue to be discussed recently. These problem are related ted to alternative
source of fuel energy supply. Mostly,
Mo the research discusses about natural gas as an
alternative fuel for internal combustion because many studies concluded that its
availability
lability and environmental effect of combustion were acceptable, especially on
marine diesel engine. This paper aims to t analyze
ze the implementation of Compressed
Natural Gas (CNG) on four stroke diesel engine and its effect on engine performance
based on experimental study. The engine is tested on five different speed, speed namely
1800, 1900, 2000, 2100 and 2200 rpm. The CNG quantity antity will be varied from 0-3
0
liter/minute when the engine is operated on 0-100%
0 100% of engine load. The result shows
that power output decrease gradually when the CNG quantity increase. However, the
decreasing of power output under dual fuel mode was not significant.
significant. The increase in
the amount of CNG gas injected into the combustion chamber will be followed by
increasing torque .And
And lastly, the increasing of gas quantity in combustion chamber
affect the decreasing of diesel oil consumption significantly.
significantly
Keyword: CNG, Diesel Dual Fuel and Engine Performance.

Cite this Article: Nilam S. Octaviani, Semin, B. Sudarmanta and M. B. Zaman, The
Implementation of CNG as Analternative Fuel For Marine Diesel Engine, Engine
International
ernational Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology,, 9(13),
9(1 2018, pp.
25–33.
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 The Implementation of CNG as Analternative Fuel For Marine Diesel Engine

1. INTRODUCTION
The application of natural gas as an alternative fuel is an interesting issue to be discussed. In
addition to produced cleaner emissions, the availability of natural gas is still abundant so that
the price is cheaper when compared with diesel and gasoline [1-2]. Natural gas is an
alternative fuel contain of methane gas (CH4) with a composition of 87-96% [3-5] and other
components, such as ethane, propane, n-butane, iso-butane, n-pentane, iso-pentane, Hexane,
CO2, Nitrogen, O2, and hydrogen on small quantity.The application of natural gas as fuel of
diesel engines is being studied. Research and development of gas-fueled diesel engines is
increasing every year, not only used for experimental processes but also developed in industry
and transportation [6-9]. But the application of natural gas as a fuel diesel engine can’t just be
done.
According to Zoltowski [10], natural gas will be difficult to apply to diesel engines
because natural gas is a type of fuel with low cetane number but high octane number. This
causes the ability of natural gas to conduct low self-ignition. However, Semin et al [1]
explained that natural gas can be applied to diesel engines with dual fuel technology wherein
the engine is operated with two fuels, the engine operates with gas fuel and diesel fuel under
lean burn condition, it means that the amount of diesel fuel less than usual because it acts as a
pilot fuel.To be operated with gas fuel, it is necessary to modify some components and add
new components so that diesel engines convert to dual fuel engines [11, 12, 13].
However, during the compression stroke, diesel engines after conversion into dual fuel
engines operation (diesel/natural gas) have longer ignition delay [14, 15], lower in-cylinder
pressure [11, 16, 17] and lower heat release rate compared to diesel operation[14, 18]. This
condition may lead the decreasing of engine power [13, 19]. This paper will discuss about the
effect of of converting diesel engine into dual fuel engine to diesel engine exhaust emission
after natural gas is applied in dual fuel engines

2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
2.1. Fuel Properties
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is an alternative fuel that can be used as a substitute for
gasoline, diesel fuel and propane / LPG. Natural gas is a gas with the main composition is
methane (CH4). In addition, propane, butane, iso-butane and other gases are also contained in
small quantities. Usually the methane gas content is more than 90-98% in natural gas,
depending on the location of the source and process of natural gas processing.
The addition of gas as fuel in diesel engines causes the addition of new components and
modifications to several engine components. Tiwari (2015) [12], conducted an experiment in
converting diesel engines into dual fuel engines using diesel and gas (CNG) fuel. Some
system components that need to be modified include the cylinder head, spark ignition system
and cooling system. While the components that need to be added to the modification process
are selenoid valves, diesel modulators, high / low pressure filters, the use of low compression
type pistons, dual fuel Electronic Control Units (ECUs) and turbocharger air bypass (TAB).
The last is the addition of components to the gas installation system so that it can be injected
into the combustion chamber.
Several studies on the conversion of diesel engines fueled by diesel oil to dual fuel
engines (diesel and gas) have been carried out, both in computational and experimental
simulations [20-22]. The conversion results have an effect on the combustion process and
engine performance. This is due to differences in the characteristics of the fuel used. Table 2
shows the differences in properties between gas and diesel fuel. It is the difference in property

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 Nilam S. Octaviani, Semin, B. Sudarmanta and M. B. Zaman

of this fuel that causes the addition of CNG in the combustion chamber to affect the change in
performance and combustion process in dual fuel engines.

Table 1. The Characterictic of CNG[2]

Properties Value
Density (kg/m3) 0,72
Flammability limits (volume % in air) 4,3-15
Flammability limits (Ø) 0,4-1,6
Autoignition temperature in air (0C) 723
Minimum ignition energy (mJ) 0.28
Flame velocity (ms-1) 0.38
Adiabatic flame temperature (K) 2214
Quenching distance (mm) 2.1
Stoichiometric fuel/air mass ratio 0.058
Stoichiometric volume fraction (%) 9.48
Lower heating value (MJ/kg) 45.8
Heat of combustion (MJ/kg air) 2.9

Table 2 Physicochemical properties of CNG and diesel fuel, [22]

Fuel Properties CNG Diesel
Low heating value (MJ/kg) 48.6 42.5
Heating value of stoichiometric mixture
2.67 2.79
(MJ/kg)
Cetane number - 52.1
Octane number 130 -
Auto-ignition temperature (oc) 650 180-220
Stoichiometric air/fuel ratio 17.2 14.3
Carbon content (%) 75 87

2.2. Engine Set-up

The engine used in the experiments is a single-cylinder, four-stroke, water-cooled, direct
injection (DI) compression-ignition engine. Dimensions of the engine are: the bore D = 85
mm and stroke H = 87 mm. The main specifications of the engine are presented in Table 2.
The shaft of the engine is coupled to the rotor of an electric generator which is used to load
engine by receiving the field voltage. A calibrated burette and a stopwatch were employed to
measure the mass flow rate of fuel.
Data retrieval is performed on diesel engines in normal conditions and in fuel mode. The
engine is operated at 1800 rpm - 2200 rpm at 100 rpm intervals with a variation of the 0-4000
Watt electric load. In dual fuel systems, the gas is injected into the intake manifold at 20ᵒ
BTDC at the exhaust stage or in conjunction with the opening of the suction valve. While
diesel fuel is injected into the combustion chamber according to the engine conditions,
namely at 18ᵒ BTDC on the compression stage. Gas fuel entering the combustion chamber is
regulated in 1-3 liter / minute variations. Experimental set-up of this research is presented on
Figure 1.

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 The Implementation of CNG as Analternative Fuel For Marine Diesel Engine

Table 3 Engine Data

Specification Data
Engine type Four stroke cycle, Direct injection
Number of cylinder 1
Bore x Stroke 85 mm x 87 mm
Displacement 493 cc
Compression Ratio 18
Max. Engine speed at full load 2200 RPM
Continous Power Output 7.5 kW
Specific Fuel Consumption 171 gr/HP.h
Volume per injection 0.07 mL

Figure 1 Experimental set up

The engine performance parameters when using diesel and diesel-natural gas blends have
been comparatively determined. The engine power is calculated usingEq. (1) by Heywood
[20]. The coltage (V) the electic current (i), and generator efficiency ( ) are collected
by experiment. The specific fuel consumption (SFC) is related to fuel consumtion rate (FCR).
To calculate the FRC (Eq (2)) [20], we have determine the volune of fuel injection (v), the
fuel density ( ) and the timing of every 10 ml fuel consuption. And then the SFC can be
calculated by Eq (3) [20].
∅
= (1)

= (2)
!"#
= (3)
$

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 Nilam S. Octaviani, Semin, B. Sudarmanta and M. B. Zaman

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1. Power Output
Power output is the engine's ability to produce work every unit of time. In addition, power can
also be defined by the ability of the engine to overcome the given load, which in this study is
used to generate electricity at the generator.
Figure 2 is a graph of the power of the load function at a constant speed of 2200 rpm. In
Figure 2, it can be seen that the power produced increases with increasing load. This is
because to overcome the increased load when the engine is operated at constant speed, the
injected fuel is increasing, so that the combustion that occurs is greater. Large combustion
causes power to increase.

Figure 2 Variation of power output with engine load at constant speed (2200 rpm)
From Figure 2 there is also no significant difference in the power generated from the
addition of the amount of gas fuel. This can be seen from the existence of graphs that coincide
with each other and the small percentage difference in the average increase or decrease of the
power produced by each variation of spring constant and gas pressure out. This proves that
the addition of electrical load is followed by an increase in voltage and electric current which
causes an increase in engine power. Addition of electrical load will cause the engine speed to
decrease. To maintain a constant rotation of the addition of fuel supply into the combustion
chamber by increasing the gas handle on the generator to 2200 rpm and to maintain the
constant rotation, the centrifugal governor is tasked with ensuring that the fuel entering the
combustion chamber is in accordance with the engine speed.
In addition, the addition of gas increases the amount of material that burns into the
combustion chamber both fuel increases. Diesel fuel and gas will cause more energy to be
converted into heat energy and mechanics with enough air to get perfect combustion. The
energy produced from combustion makes the engine power greater in accordance with the
load given to the engine.

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 The Implementation of CNG as Analternative Fuel For Marine Diesel Engine

3.2. Torque
Torque is the engine's ability to produce work. Torque is proportional to the power supplied
and inversely proportional to engine speed. The greater the power produced by the engine, the
greater the torque obtained. Conversely the greater the engine speed, the torque produced will
be smaller.
From Figure 3, it can be seen that the torque value increases with increasing load. This is
because with the addition of the load there is an increase in fuel consumption on the engine.
The addition of diesel fuel consumption alone will be controlled by a centrifugal governor
that works according to engine speed and the rotation will be kept constant even though there
is an additional load.

20.0
Diesel fuel
DF + CNG 1 l/m
18.0 DF + CNG 2 l/m
DF + CNG 3 l/m
Torque (Nm)

16.0

14.0

12.0

10.0
1800 1900 2000 2100 2200
Engine Speed (rpm)

Figure 3 The effect of gas addition on engine torque

In addition, based on Figure 3, there is no significant difference in the torque produced by
the addition of gas fuel. This can be seen from the existence of graphs that coincide with each
other and the small percentage difference in average increase or decrease in torque when the
engine operates in the normal mode and dual fuel mode. This is because the changes in the
current and voltage values produced by the generator are also relatively small so there is no
noticeable difference in the large torque values.
The increase in the amount of CNG gas injected into the combustion chamber through the
intake manifold channel indicates that more fuel heat energy is put into the combustion
chamber to be converted into greater heat energy, the result of combustion which causes a
strong force of force received by the piston then converted into mechanical energy through
translational motion which will cause an effective increase in power which will be followed
by increasing torque.

3.3. Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC)

Specific fuel consumption (SFC) is the amount of fuel needed to produce one unit of power
within one hour. The size or size of SFC is determined by whether or not the mixture of fuel
and air is burned in the combustion chamber, because the more perfect combustion that occurs
in the combustion chamber will produce even greater power. SFC is a machine measuring
indicator in consuming fuel.
From Figure 4 it can be seen that in general the use of specific fuels tends to decrease with
increasing load. When increasing loads and increasing power, the engine is more effective in

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 Nilam S. Octaviani, Semin, B. Sudarmanta and M. B. Zaman

consuming fuel. After the load plus the SFC chart tends to decrease until it reaches a load of
2700 watts the SFC value reaches a minimum. Then when the load is added from 2700 to
4000 watts, the SFC value will rise again to a certain point. In different rotation variations, the
best SFC value occurs when the engine operates at 2000 rpm.

Figure 4 The effect of gas addition on SFC at 1800 rpm

In Figure 4 shows a comparison of the consumption of specific fuel (SFC) of diesel oil for
diesel engines when operating in normal mode and after adding gas, there is a decrease with
increasing load. In general, the graph also explains that when a diesel engine is operated with
a dual fuel system, diesel oil consumption has decreased significantly with the addition of
CNG fuel entering the combustion chamber. This means that the amount of CNG gas that
enters the combustion chamber can replace a number of diesel oil fuels to get the power
needed to overcome the addition of electrical loads.

4. CONCLUSION
The effect of CNG addition has been investigated above. According to data obtained, the
finding of this study are concluded as follows:
• Power output is the most important parameter of engine performance. According to the data
obtained, the addition of natural gas into combustion chamber affect the power output. When
the natural gas quantity increase, the power output decrease gradually. However, the
decreasing of power output under dual fuel mode was not significant.
• The torque value increases with increasing load. The increase in the amount of CNG gas
injected into the combustion chamber will be followed by increasing torque
• Specific fuel consumption (SFC) is the amount of fuel needed to produce one unit of power
within one hour. When a diesel engine is operated with a dual fuel system, diesel oil
consumption has decreased significantly with the addition of CNG fuel entering the
combustion chamber.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Firstly, the authors would like to thank and acknowledge to the KEMENRISTEKDIKTI
Indonesia to provide research grants and support the financials of this research. And
furthermore, the authors would like to be obliged to Department of Marine Engineering, ITS
for providing laboratory facilities.

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 The Implementation of CNG as Analternative Fuel For Marine Diesel Engine

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