SIAR Congress, CAR 2026

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Numerical Investigation of N2O Formation in the Crevices of a Heavy-Duty Ammonia-Fueled Spark-Ignition Engine
Stefany Saenz, Juan M. Trujillo, Cosmin E. Dumitrescu

Last modified: 2026-08-09

Abstract


Replacing conventional fuels with ammonia (NH3) reduce greenhouse gas emissions from internal combustion engines, but incomplete fuel oxidation will release unburned NH3 and nitrous oxide (N2O). This study numerically investigated the effects of crevice-temperature history and equivalence ratio on NH3 conversion and N2O formation in a heavy-duty compression-ignition engine converted to spark-ignition operation. The analysis combined experimental in-cylinder pressure data with a Rassweiler-derived mass fraction burned (MFB) and applied a multi-Wiebe formulation to separate the combustion stages. The final Wiebe component, which correlated to the late release and oxidation of the crevice mixture (~4.6–6.0% of total), was simulated with a closed, fixed-mass, zero-dimensional batch-reactor that tracked the mixture chemistry until exhaust valve opening. The analysis evaluated equivalence ratios (ϕ) from 0.7 to 1. The model also defined five crevice-temperature profiles through a temperature-weighting factor, , extending from the wall-temperature limit ( = 0) to the burned-zone-temperature limit ( = 1). Detailed chemical kinetics and an integrated rate-of-production analysis quantified the final NH3 and N2O concentrations and the dominant reaction pathways. The mixture remained nearly nonreactive for  of 0 and 0.25, producing negligible NH3 conversion and N2O formation. NH3 conversion remained limited at =0.5, while N2O increased up to 642 ppm. The  = 0,75 condition represented a transition region in which ϕ strongly influenced the chemical response. The highest N2O concentration (~1640 ppm) occurred at ϕ = 0.7, whereas the ϕ = 0.9 and ϕ = 1.0 produced less than 1 ppm. The simulations for  = 1, predicted nearly complete NH3conversion and final N2O concentrations of 0.07–0.17 ppm. Reaction NH3+OH H2O+ NH2 dominated NH3 consumption for ϕ = 0.8, while NH2+NO2 N2O+H2O dominated N2O formation at  = 0.5. Increasing temperature suppressed this formation pathway and strengthened the reactions responsible for N2O consumption. These results identify an intermediate-temperature window that promotes crevice-associated N2O accumulation and show that equivalence ratio shifts this window by changing the mixture composition and thermal conditions.