Simulations of the SCR catalyst in ammonia-biodiesel fuelled CI engine using virtual test bench with detailed chemistry

The use of ammonia as an alternative fuel in the automotive industry is not yet fully established. Further research and development are required to account for both engine and aftertreatment systems, as well as their integration and control to ensure the most efficient use of ammonia. In this work, we present a fully physics and chemistry-based toolchain for co-simulating an ammonia-biodiesel fuelled compression ignition engine with a selective catalytic reduction catalyst. The investigations refer to experimental data from a single-cylinder research engine. This is a direct injection engine that was retrofitted to run on ammonia and biodiesel, the latter acting as a combustion promoter. Engine in-cylinder processes were simulated using a stochastic reactor model. Detailed gas phase chemistry is used to simulate the combustion process and pollutants formation. The catalyst model employs detailed surface chemistry that is trained using available data from literature. Eventually, the co-simulation toolchain was applied to investigate numerically the impact of the properties of the catalyst on ammonia reduction under engine-relevant operating conditions.