Characterisation of particulates and trace metals emitted by a dimethyl ether-fuelled genset engine prototype

Diesel-fuelled CI engines are the primary sources of particulate matter (PM) emissions which harm human health and the urban environment. Elevated PM emission levels can cause respiratory diseases and deteriorate urban air quality and atmospheric visibility. DME, a carbon-neutral and oxygenated fuel, is fast merging as a strong alternative to diesel to reduce PM emissions. The absence of a direct carbon-carbon bond in the molecular structure of DME improves combustion and reduces PM emissions to negligible levels. DME and baseline diesel are experimentally evaluated in a single-cylinder CI genset engine prototype to find the particulate number-size, surface area-size and mass-size distributions. In addition, total particulate number (TPN), total particulate mass (TPM), count mean diameter (CMD) of particulates, particulate morphology and trace metals were assessed. DME genset engine emitted higher numbers of smaller diameter particles, with lower surface area and mass distribution than baseline diesel. For DME, total PM mass emission and CMD of particulates were lower due to particles being finer. Morphological analysis of particulates showed the presence of larger particles from diesel and less bunched agglomerates of nucleation mode particles from the DME genset engine prototype. The trace metal analysis of particulates showed higher presence of trace metals such as Si, Ca, and Na in DME-fuelled engine than in diesel. As an alternative to diesel, DME can reduce PM emissions from genset engines, significantly enhance urban air quality, and minimise the threat of respiratory diseases.