Grant: Engage Plus Grants Program

The objective of this relationship is to allow the measurement of methane gas emissions from a compression ignition dual-fuel engine operating with natural gas as the primary fuel. Discovery Fuel Technologies' fuel system product will be used to supply the oxygenate pilot fuel. For this development to be successful, Discovery requires engine testing to identify methods to reduce methane emissions under optimal fueling conditions of the diesel engine. Queen's University and Discovery have set up a diesel engine and the required peripheral sensors on an existing dynamometer located in the Engine Laboratory at Queen's University. This engine was used as part of an initial Engage project to measure engine performance with diesel fuel at various engine speeds and loads. Some limited testing was also done with dimethyl-ether in order to verify that the fuel system is capable of handling the more volatile fuel. In this follow-up Engage Plus project tests will be performed to identify the amounts of methane emissions obtained when fueling the engine with natural gas and a compression ignitable diesel and oxygenate. The project allows Discovery access to the advanced combustion skill-sets of the Ciccarelli Combustion group at Queen's, skills not found in Industry. Data obtained in this program will allow optimized and continued development of Discovery's product and lead to additional funding and the hiring of Canadians.