Comparison between direct and indirect (prechamber)

spark ignition in the case of a cogeneration natural gas

engine, part I: engine geometrical parameters
R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat
*
Laboratory for Industrial Energy Systems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne,
Switzerland
Received 3 September 2001; accepted 2 January 2002
Abstract
The operation of a cogeneration internal combustion engine with unscavenged prechamber ignition was
investigated. The objective was to evaluate the potential to reduce the exhaust gas emissions, particularly
the CO emissions without exhaust gas after treatment. The investigation was carried out on a small size gas
engine (150 kW) and required the development of cooled prechambers and the modication of the engine
cylinder heads. The limit of the conventional lean burn operating mode with direct ignition is discussed and
the prechamber geometrical conguration is presented. Through the generation of gas jets in the main
chamber, the use of a prechamber strongly intensies and accelerates the combustion process. The pre-
chamber operation reduces signicantly the emissions of CO and total hydrocarbon (THC) for same NO
x
emissions. The use of a piston generating signicantly more turbulence leads to a somewhat higher fuel
conversion eciency without aecting signicantly the CO and THC emissions at low NO
x
emissions.
Further improvement associated with the adjustment of the engine operating parameters and the turbo-
charger characteristics, as well as a comparison between direct and prechamber ignition operation are
presented in the second part (II) of this publication. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Gas engine; Spark ignition; Prechamber; Natural gas; Cogeneration; Emissions; Experimentation
Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229
www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: daniel.favrat@ep.ch (D. Favrat).
URL: http://leniwww.ep.ch.
1359-4311/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S1359- 4311( 02) 00040- 6
1. Introduction
Through numerous applications in Europe and in the United States, the use of small size spark
ignition internal combustion engines operating on natural gas or biogas for decentralised power
Nomenclature
Symbols
A
n
total nozzle orice area
COV coecient of variance
N
n
number of nozzle orices
p pressure
p
mi
indicated mean eective pressure
Q heat
RH relative humidity
V
p
prechamber volume
Greek
a
n
nozzle orice mean angle
D

hh
0
volumetric heating value
Dp pressure dierence
Du crank angle interval
volumetric compression ratio
g
f
fuel conversion eciency
k relative air to fuel ratio
Subscripts
ABDC after bottom dead centre
ATDC after top dead centre
BBDC before bottom dead centre
BTDC before top dead centre
cd combustion duration
hr heat released
id ignition delay
L lower
mixt fuelair mixture
N p 1:013 bar, T 273:15 K
0 p 1:013 bar, T 298:15 K
Abbreviations
CA crank angle
ST spark timing
TDC top dead centre
1218 R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229
and heat generation (cogeneration) has proven to be an eective means of simultaneously
achieving an ecient and clean conversion of the primary energy. Further, the high hydrogen to
carbon ratio of natural gas reduces the amount of CO
2
generated per unit of energy produced. In
the case of biogas, the closed carbon cycle does not aect the CO
2
balance. Therefore, cogener-
ation with gas engines directly contributes to save energy and to preserve the global environment.
However, more and more stringent exhaust gas emission legislation requires continuous im-
provement of the combustion process.
With a limit of 250 mg/m
3
N
, 5% O
2
(400 in the case of biogas operation) for NO
x
and 650 mg/
m
3
N
, 5% O
2
for CO [1], Switzerland has the most stringent requirement for exhaust gas emissions
of stationary combustion engines in Europe. There are several engine operating modes able to
full these requirements, but the two used in practice rely on a catalytic exhaust gas after treat-
ment. The rst one is based on the use of a stoichiometric mixture and a three way catalyst. The
second approach is based on the lean burn mode with oxidation catalyst. Both modes were in-
vestigated in an earlier study [3,4]. The use of a catalytic converter adds extra costs and increases
the complexity of cogeneration systems, which tends to increase their maintenance costs and
reduce their reliability. In the particular case of engines operating on biogas produced from
sewage or landll or alternatively on biogas and natural gas, a catalyst cannot be used for exhaust
gas after treatment. Sewage and landll gases contain amounts of sulfur and heavy metals, which
are sucient to rapidly deactivate the catalyst. In consequence, it appears that in order to achieve
high reliability and to enable alternate operation on natural gas and biogas, it is necessary to
reduce the exhaust emissions below the Swiss limits for natural gas operation at the level of the
combustion process.
This motivates the investigation of the use of an unscavenged prechamber for application on a
small size cogeneration gas engine in order to evaluate the potential to reduce simultaneously the
NO
x
and CO, while keeping the fuel conversion eciency at a high level. The main objective of
this publication is to present a comparison between direct and prechamber ignition. It has been
split into two parts. The rst part, forming the present paper, describes the engine specications,
the testing facilities and the experimental conditions. Further, it shows the limit of the conven-
tional lean burn operating mode with direct ignition and discusses the prechamber geometrical
conguration. Finally, it illustrates the inuence of the piston geometry in the case of prechamber
ignition. The second part (II [2]) shows the inuence of the spark timing, the turbocharger
characteristics and the engine load on the prechamber ignition operation. It also presents a
comparison between direct and prechamber ignition.
2. Engine specications and experimental conditions
2.1. Engines specications
The engine used is derived from a Liebherr heavy duty diesel engine type 926 converted for
natural gas operation on the Otto principle and is intended for cogeneration applications. The
main engine specications are summarised in Table 1. The engine is equipped with new cylinder
heads, which enable the tting of spark plugs at the location of the diesel injectors. The com-
bustion chamber was adapted to the spark ignition operation through a modication of the piston
R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229 1219
geometry and a reduction of the volumetric compression ratio. Three dierent piston geometries
were tested: the original piston developed by the engine manufacturer and used as reference, called
A, a piston generating a higher turbulence through an important increase of the piston front
surface and developed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Z uurich in a parallel project
[6], called B, both with a volumetric compression ratio of 12, and a piston with a volumetric
compression ratio of 9, called C. All three pistons are represented in Fig. 1. Further, the engine is
equipped with cylinder liners characterised by a reduced dead volume at the level of the cylinder
head gasket to limit the carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons exhaust gas emissions [3,4,7]. The
engine is turbocharged and intercooled. In order to preserve more energy for the turbocharger, the
engine is equipped with an insulated exhaust manifold. More detailed information on the engine
conversion is given in [8].
Table 1
Main engine specications
Manufacturer Liebherr Intake valve opening 15 CA
BTDC
Type G 926 TI Intake valve closing 45 CA
ABDC
Number of cyl. Six in line Exhaust valve opening 54 CA
BBDC
Bore 122 mm Exhaust valve closing 14 CA
ATDC
Stroke 142 mm Swirl ratio [5, Eq. (8.28)] 2.0
Conrod length 228 mm Fuel and air mixer RMG 980 140/65-36-1.1
Total swept vol. 9.96 l Turbocharger KKK K27 3371 OLAKB
Number of valves 2 Ignition system Fairbanks Morse IQ 250
Firing order 1-5-3-6-2-4 Spark plugs Bosch Super W6DC
Fig. 1. Combustion chamber: (a) with piston B, 12:0 [6], (b) with piston C, 9:0; with the dashed outline of
piston A, 12:0.
1220 R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229
2.2. Testing facilities
The experimental investigation was carried out on a test bed especially developed for the study
of gas engines (Fig. 2). The test bed is equipped with a direct natural gas supply from the network
as well as from an intermediate storage tank at high pressure. The storage tank is used to keep the
natural gas composition constant over several series of experiments. The natural gas was supplied
from storage and the exact composition was determined by gas chromatography to enable an
accurate calculation of the engine fuel conversion eciency. The composition and the lower
heating value of the dierent natural gas blends used are given in Table 2. In addition to the usual
pressure, temperature, ow and exhaust gas emission measurements, the cylinders 1 and 3 are
instrumented for pressure indication. The pre- and main chamber of cylinder 1 as well as the main
Fig. 2. Test bed with gas engine Liebherr G 926 TI.
Table 2
Chemical composition and properties of the natural gas blends used
NG1 NG2 NG3 NG5 NG7
CH
4
(vol%) 92.17 95.90 97.45 95.68 95.78
C
2
H
6
(vol%) 3.48 1.77 0.88 1.76 1.95
C
3
H
8
(vol%) 0.86 0.46 0.26 0.50 0.49
i-C
4
H
10
(vol%) 0.13 0.07 0.04 0.08 0.08
n-C
4
H
10
(vol%) 0.15 0.08 0.05 0.09 0.07
i-C
5
H
12
(vol%) 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02
n-C
5
H
12
(vol%) 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02
C

6
(vol%) 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
N
2
(vol%) 2.35 1.42 1.30 1.54 1.34
CO
2
(vol%) 0.79 0.27 0.00 0.31 0.25
D

hh
0;L
a
(MJ/m
3
N
) 36.44 36.10 35.82 36.08 36.20
a
C

6
considered as n-C
6
H
14
.
R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229 1221
chamber of cylinder 3 are equipped with high pressure transducers. Further, the intake and ex-
haust ports of cylinder 1 are tted with low pressure transducers. The angular resolution is 0.5
and the presented results are averaged over 100 engine cycles. The testing facilities and the
complete instrumentation have already been described thoroughly elsewhere [3,8].
2.3. Experimental conditions
The experimental conditions are summarised in Table 3. The emission concentration is ex-
pressed in mg/m
3
N
at normal conditions (1013 mbar, 0 C) and corrected for humidity to 0% RH
(dry) and an oxygen (O
2
) residual concentration of 5%, corresponding to the Swiss standard. NO
x
and total hydrocarbon (THC) are expressed in equivalent NO
2
and CH
4
, respectively. The igni-
tion delay (Du
id
) is dened as the dierence between the average angular positions where 5% of
the heat has been released (start of combustion) and of the spark timing. The combustion du-
ration (Du
cd
) is dened as the dierence between the average angular positions where 90% (end of
combustion) and where 5% of the heat has been released. The emissions of NO
x
, CO, THC, O
2
and CO
2
were measured and the relative air to fuel ratio is calculated on the basis of the exhaust
gas composition.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Direct ignition operation
This section reviews the principal results obtained with direct spark ignition in early phases of
the gas engine study [3,4,7,8] and illustrates the inuence of the main engine parameters aecting
the principal exhaust gas emissions.
Table 3
General experimental conditions
Crankshaft rotational speed 1500 5 rpm
Maximum brake mean eective pressure 12 0:1 bar
Maximum brake power output 150 1:3 kW
Engine room temperature 2936 C
Intake air pressure 980 5 mbar
Intake air temperature 25 0:5 C
Intake air relative humidity
a
50 0:5%
Natural gas pressure
b
980 5 mbar
Natural gas temperature 1427 C
Fuelair mixture temperature after intercooler 90 1 C
Exhaust gas pressure after turbocharger 1050 5 mbar
Cooling water inlet temperature 80 0:5 C
Cooling water mass ow 2:45 0:03 kg/s
Lubricating oil inlet temperature 90 0:5 C
Lubricating oil mass ow 1:21 0:01 kg/s
a
When not otherwise specied.
b
Through zero pressure regulator controlled by intake air pressure.
1222 R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229
The experimental investigations carried out on the basis of the original combustion chamber
geometry, formed by piston A (Fig. 1), have shown that the combustion chamber crevice volume
located between the cylinder liner, the cylinder head and the cylinder gasket represents a major
source of CO and THC emissions. This nding led to a modication of the cylinder liner and
gasket to reduce as much as possible this crevice volume. The emissions and performance after
modication are represented in Fig. 3. The results are generally represented as a function of NO
x
emissions in order to clearly illustrate the eect of the dierent combustion chamber congura-
tions on this determining pollutant.
The evaluation of piston B (Fig. 1a) has shown that the higher turbulence level generated
leads to a shortening of the combustion process (Fig. 3a) and an improvement of the com-
bustion stability, expressed by the coecient of variance of the indicated mean eective pressure
(COV
p
mi
) (Fig. 3b), which results in an important reduction of the THC emissions (Fig. 3c).
However, the CO emissions are not signicantly aected. The faster combustion process yields,
at constant NO
x
emissions, higher fuel conversion eciency (Fig. 3b). The lower methane
concentration of the natural gas blend used for the test of piston B (NG1: 92.2%) compared to
the blend used for piston A (NG2: 95.9%) accounts for a part of the combustion acceleration [9].
Fig. 3. Direct ignition, performance and emissions of the combustion chambers A and B, 12:0, and C, 9:0, as
function of NO
x
emissions: mean heat-release rate and integral (a), fuel conversion eciency and coecient of variance
of p
mi
(b), CO and THC emissions (c) and mean pressure cycle (d); ST 26:7 CA
BTDC
, T
mixt
90

50 C, RH
30

45%.
R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229 1223
However, the eect of fuel composition is somewhat attenuated by the lower fuelair mixture
temperature used with piston B. The much better combustion stability enables a further increase
in relative air to fuel, which results in a further reduction of NO
x
emissions, far below the Swiss
limit. However, the satisfaction of the Swiss limit for CO requires the use of an oxidation
catalyst.
A complementary study of the inuence of specic engine parameters was undertaken in
order to evaluate the potential to reduce the relatively high CO emissions. The parameters in-
vestigated were the volumetric compression ratio, the intake and exhaust valve overlap duration
and the location of the rst piston compression ring. The results are presented and discussed in
detail in [8]. This complementary study indicates that the volumetric compression ratio repre-
sents the major parameter inuencing the engine exhaust emissions. Its reduction results in a
signicant decrease of the CO emissions. This is illustrated by the experimental results obtained
with piston C designed to reduce the compression ratio to 9.0 and to increase as much as
possible the squish surface in order to promote the generation of turbulence (Fig. 1b). The
decrease of cylinder pressure resulting from the reduction of volumetric compression ratio from
12.0 to 9.0 (Fig. 3d) leads to a slowing down of the combustion process (Fig. 3a), which yields
an important decrease of fuel conversion eciency (Fig. 3b). In comparison with piston A, the
decrease in peak combustion temperature resulting from the reduction of peak cylinder pressure
enables a further reduction of the NO
x
emissions and a decrease in relative air to fuel ratio,
which improves the combustion stability. The much lower cylinder pressure reduces the amount
of unburned mixture stored in the combustion chamber crevices at the end of the primary
combustion process and therefore the quantity of CO emissions generated through hydrocarbon
partial secondary oxidation. On the other hand, the slower combustion process results in an
increase of the average temperature during expansion, which promotes a more complete oxi-
dation of the unburnt hydrocarbons emerging from the crevices. In comparison to piston A,
both of these eects result in a simultaneous and important reduction of CO and THC emissions
(Fig. 3c).
From the results presented, two distinct methods to satisfy the requirements of the Swiss Clean
Air Act are emerging. The rst method, only applicable to natural gas, consists in using a high
turbulence combustion chamber to maximise the fuel conversion eciency and reduce the NO
x
emissions, while abating the CO emissions by exhaust gas after treatment with an oxidation
catalyst. The second method, destined for biogas, is based on the reduction of the volumetric
compression ratio to decrease the raw exhaust emissions under the Swiss limit. This approach,
however, leads to an important reduction of the fuel conversion eciency. These two methods
clearly illustrate the actual limits of the lean burn operation with direct spark ignition. The re-
duction of the CO emissions without catalytic treatment, in order to decrease the investment and
maintenance cost and to improve the engine reliability to satisfy the emissions regulation, leads to
an increase of the operating cost through an augmentation of the specic fuel consumption. The
simultaneous requirement of low exhaust gas emissions, high primary energy conversion eciency
and reliable engine operation (therefore without exhaust gas after treatment) motivated the search
for a new degree of freedom related to the combustion chamber conguration. This was realised
through the addition of a small combustion prechamber and the transfer of the ignition location
into this prechamber.
1224 R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229
3.2. Prechamber ignition operation
The inuence of the main combustion chamber geometry is presented and discussed for a
prechamber geometrical conguration close to optimum.
3.2.1. Prechamber design
A small water cooled prechamber, representing about 3% of the main chamber compression
volume, was designed to be housed in the boss of the existing cylinder head used for the spark plug
well. The prechamber integrated to the modied cylinder head is represented in Fig. 4a. It was
designed on a modular basis formed by three parts (nose, body and xing clamp), in order to limit
the machining work for the experimental parametric study. A picture of the whole prechamber is
given in Fig. 4b and a detail of the body with spark plug electrodes and positioning pin is showed
in Fig. 4c. The part of the prechamber nose protruding in the main chamber can be seen in Fig.
4d. For later industrial application, the three dierent parts could be welded together. The limited
space in the prechamber body (limited by the size of the original cylinder head boss) required the
modication of the spark plug tightening hexagon. In order to limit the prechamber and spark
plug operating temperature, part of the engine water owing in the cylinder head is used to cool
the nose and the bottom of the body.
Several prechamber congurations were realised in order to perform variations of the cross
sectional area, number, orientation and distribution of the nozzle orices, as well as of the pre-
chamber internal volume and shape. The congurations tested were selected on the basis of the
results of a CFD numerical simulation with KIVA-3V. The numerical and experimental results are
Fig. 4. (a) Combustion prechamber integrated in the cylinder head, (b) complete prechamber with xing clamp and
copper joints, (c) detail of the prechamber body with spark plug electrodes and positioning pin, (d) detail of the
prechamber nose protruding into the main combustion chamber.
R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229 1225
detailed in [8]. The nal conguration combining all the positive features results in a prechamber
with an internal volume of 4540 mm
3
(2.9% of the compression volume) and four nozzle orices of
diameter 2.12 mm (A
n
14:10 mm
2
), non-evenly distributed and oriented at an angle of 78
from the prechamber axis. Although the selection of this combination is based on a limited
number of variations performed for each geometrical parameter investigated, the nal pre-
chamber conguration obtained should be relatively close to the global optimum.
3.2.2. Main combustion chamber geometry
In order to perform a rst evaluation of the inuence of the main combustion chamber geo-
metry on the combustion process and exhaust gas emissions, two dierent piston bowl congu-
rations were investigated: the original (A) and the high turbulence (B) (Fig. 1a). Both pistons are
characterised by a volumetric compression ratio of 12. The engine was operated at a constant
spark timing of 8.3 CA
BTDC
.
The results corresponding to the two dierent piston geometries are presented together in Fig.
5. At a constant relative air to fuel ratio, the transition from piston A to B reduces slightly the
intensity and duration of the prechamber pressure pulse, which is illustrated by the dierence
between the prechamber and the main chamber pressure (Fig. 5c). This is expected to decrease the
penetration of the gas jets into the main combustion chamber. However, the higher turbulence
generated by piston B strongly intensies and accelerates the main chamber combustion process,
particularly in the late stage (Fig. 5b). In turn, the faster combustion process induced by piston B
causes an important increase in peak cylinder pressure (Fig. 5a).
At equal NO
x
emissions, the signicantly shorter combustion duration characterising piston B
(Fig. 5d) causes an increase in fuel conversion eciency, particularly for the highest values of
relative air to fuel ratio (Fig. 5f). Further, the more rapid late stage of the combustion process
reduces slightly the cycle-by-cycle variability in cylinder 1. This is indicated by a somewhat lower
coecient of variance of p
mi
. The opposite trend observed in cylinder 3 was identied later and
originates in a slight leakage of water between the prechamber cooling jacket and the main
chamber of cylinder 3 due to an inadequate match of machining tolerances. Because no change
was made at the level of prechamber 3 during the experimentation of the two dierent piston
geometries, the results obtained remain consistent (further experiments after improvement of the
water-tightness of prechamber 3 have shown a similar combustion stability in cylinder 1 and 3).
When considering the same NO
x
emissions, the transition from piston A to B causes a moderate
reduction of CO and THC emissions (Fig. 5e). Further, the dierence between both pistons
progressively decreases when increasing the relative air to fuel ratio in order to reduce the NO
x
emissions. The dierent behaviour of the CO and THC emissions when using piston B seems to
indicate a fundamental change in the interaction between the gas jets and the main chamber ows.
This no longer gives a reduction in CO emissions while increasing the relative air to fuel ratio.
Piston B leads to a higher peak cylinder pressure during combustion and a lower mean com-
bustion temperature during late expansion. The former eect should increase the amount of
unburnt mixture located in the combustion chamber crevices during the primary oxidation pro-
cess. The latter eect tends to lower the extent of the secondary oxidation of the unburnt hy-
drocarbons emerging from these crevices. However, piston B tends also to promote a more rapid
propagation of the ame front towards the squish region and therefore should reduce the amount
of unburnt mixture owing into the piston top land and cylinder head gasket crevices. The lower
1226 R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229
CO and THC emissions associated with piston B tend to demonstrate that this last eect is de-
terminant. The increase in peak cylinder pressure induced by piston B results in a higher maxi-
mum combustion temperature. Consequently, this requires a moderate increase in relative air to
fuel ratio in order to achieve the same NO
x
emissions (Fig. 5e). In the case of both pistons, A and
B, the reduction of the NO
x
emissions is essentially limited by the particularly high cycle-by-cycle
variability in cylinder 3.
Fig. 5. Prechamber ignition, inuence of the main combustion chamber on the engine performance and emissions; main
chamber pressure (a), heat-release rate and integral (b) and pressure dierence between pre- and main chamber (c) at
constant relative air to fuel ratio; ignition delay and combustion duration (d) CO and THC emissions (e) and fuel
conversion eciency and coecient of variance of p
mi
(e) as function of NO
x
emissions; V
p
4540 mm
3
, A
n
14:10
mm
2
, N
n
4, a
n
78, ST 8:3 CA
BTDC
, NG7.
R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229 1227
Compared to piston A, piston B achieves a somewhat better fuel conversion eciency. The
dierence between the pistons increases with the reduction of NO
x
emissions to reach a maximum
value of approximately 0.5% point. On the other hand, the behaviour of the CO and THC
emissions with the increase of relative air to fuel ratio seems to indicate no signicant advantage
of piston B over piston A at a low level of NO
x
emissions. Due to its capacity to achieve a higher
fuel conversion eciency, piston B is used for the investigations of the turbocharger turbine and
engine load.
4. Conclusions
In the context of cogeneration with internal combustion engines, the operation with pre-
chamber ignition on natural gas was investigated in order to evaluate the potential to reduce the
exhaust gas emissions, particularly the CO emissions, below the Swiss limits (NO
x
and CO
emissions: 250 and 650 mg/m
3
N
, 5% O
2
, respectively), without exhaust gas after treatment. This
required the development of cooled prechambers and the modication of the engine cylinder
heads. The nal prechamber conguration combining all the positive features established through
a parametric study was used to carry out variations of the piston geometry, the turbocharger
characteristics and the engine operating parameters in order to determine their inuence on the
engine performance and emissions. The main experimental results concerning the transition from
direct to prechamber ignition and the inuence of the piston geometry are the following:
In comparison with the direct ignition, the prechamber ignition strongly intensies and accel-
erates the combustion process; this results from the distribution of ignition sources in the main
combustion chamber by means of jets of combustion products issuing from the prechamber; the
penetration of the gas jets into the main chamber dramatically increases the initial ame front
surface.
In comparison to the original piston, the use of a piston generating signicantly more turbu-
lence leads to an approximately 0.5%-point higher fuel conversion eciency; however, it in-
duces no signicant change in the CO and THC emissions at low NO
x
emissions.
The results regarding the inuence of the engine operating parameters and the turbocharger
characteristics as well as a comparison between direct and prechamber ignition are presented in
the second part of this publication (II, [2]).
Acknowledgements
This research work was carried out at the Laboratory for Industrial Energy Systems (LENI) of
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL). It was nancially supported by
the Swiss Federal Oce of Energy (OFEN), under the grant no. 69801, the engine manufacturer
Liebherr Machines Bulle S.A., the cogeneration group manufacturer Dimag S.A., the Research
Fund of the Gas Industry (FOGA), as well as by the EPFL, who are all gratefully acknowledged.
1228 R.P. Roethlisberger, D. Favrat / Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 12171229
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