Applied Energy 88 (2011) 47194724

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

The inuence of Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) on combustion and emissions of n-heptane/natural gas fueled Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engines
Morteza Fathi a,1, R. Khoshbakhti Saray b,, M. David Checkel c
a b c

Iran Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Mfg. Co. (DESA), Tehran, Iran Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2G8

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
In Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion, a lean premixed charge combusts simultaneously in multiple sites. Utilizing highly diluted mixtures, and lack of any signicant ame propagation, in-cylinder NOx formation is reduced. Making HCCI engine a feasible alternative to conventional engines requires several challenges to be resolved. Combustion timing control is one of the most important of these items. It should be done in order that heat is released at the most optimum phasing for efciency and emissions. In this study, a Waukesha Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) single cylinder research engine was used to be operated in HCCI combustion mode fueled by natural gas and n-heptane. The main goal of the experiments was to investigate the possibility of controlling combustion phasing and combustion duration using various Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) fractions. For the analysis of the results, a modied apparent heat release model was developed. The inuence of EGR on emissions was discussed. Results indicate that applying EGR reduces mean charge temperature and has profound effect on combustion phasing, leading to a retarded Start of Combustion (SOC) and prolonged burn duration. Heat transfer rate decreases with EGR addition. Under examined condition EGR addition improved fuel economy, reduced NOx emissions and increased HC and CO emissions. Crown Copyright 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 15 September 2010 Received in revised form 28 May 2011 Accepted 8 June 2011 Available online 13 July 2011 Keywords: HCCI Dual-fuel EGR Heat release Emission

1. Introduction Ever-increasing stringent legislations imposed by emission regulatory organizations on NOx emissions from engines make achieving near zero NOx emission combustion strategies more challenging. Hence, in-cylinder NOx reduction methods such as low temperature combustion are being widely studied. Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion mode proposed by Onishi et al. [1] is a reliable method that has been found to produce ultra low NOx levels and near zero soot emissions and to provide equal or greater fuel conversion efciencies compared to that of conventional Direct Injection (DI) diesel combustion [24]. The advantages of HCCI combustion are commonly associated with its nature being a spontaneous multi-site combustion of a very lean and premixed fuelair mixture which has high heat release rate (HRR) and no signicant evidence of ame propagation (depending on the mixture homogeneity amongst others) [4,5].
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +98 412 3459065.
E-mail addresses: morteza.fathi@yahoo.com (M. Fathi), khoshbakhti@sut.ac.ir (R.K. Saray), dave.checkel@ualberta.ca (M.D. Checkel). 1 Tel.: +98 9122305837.

The high efciency is due to the ability of operating with high compression ratios, lack of throttling losses at part load, lean combustion, and close to constant volume ideal Otto cycle heat release. There are a few deciencies intrinsic to HCCI combustion which should be overcome [4,5]: rst, the lack of any direct control method for combustion timing in contrast to control methods such as spark ignition or fuel injection in SI or CI engines, respectively; second, producing high levels of HC and CO emissions; third, obtaining an appropriate fueling rate for achieving high engine loads under mechanical limitations of engine. The intake temperature, pressure, air/fuel ratio, auto-ignitability, and EGR rate are the most inuential parameters on combustion phasing. Many studies have focused on investigating the effect of EGR on HCCI combustion engines. EGR dilution has been commercialized in both spark ignition (SI) and compression ignition (CI) engines mainly to decrease the combustion high temperature and to reduce the related NOx emission. The maximum amount of EGR in conventional engines is restricted by the in-cylinder charge dilution limit dictated by ammability limits. These limits are much wider in an HCCI combustion engine. EGR tolerance in conventional engines is strongly limited by misring. The penalty of utilizing high EGR percentages is higher levels of HC and CO emissions

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.06.017

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Nomenclature A h N m p Q T U u V w energy ODE constant step size engine speed in rpm mass pressure heat temperature internal energy specic internal energy volume work Abbreviations aTDC after top dead center bBDC before bottom dead center CAD Crank angle degrees EGR Exhaust Gas Recirculation EVO exhaust valve open HCCI Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition HRR heat release rate IVC inlet valve closure ISFC indicated specic fuel consumption MFLHR modied rst law heat release NG natural gas SOC Start of Combustion

Subscripts ht heat transfer i integer position, event or initial s sensible

due to slow oxidation rates and lower ame temperatures [6]. Furthermore, excessive EGR reduces engine durability and performance due to more piston-cylinder liner wearing, since EGR contains corrosive and abrasive components such as sulfur oxide [6]. Recycled exhaust gas contains tri-atomic molecules, i.e., H2O and CO2. Thus, the ratio of specic heats is lower than that of air. Consequently the temperature after compression is lower. The lower after-compression temperature directly affects the onset of combustion in an HCCI engine, and tends to retard the ignition [7]. Some studies show slight dependency of Start of Combustion (SOC) on the EGR rate [8]. EGR slows down the combustion with increasing burn duration, and as a result, smoother and quieter operation is achieved. Several studies have reported that a lower peak pressure extended the high load operation limits of the HCCI engine. Zhao et al. [9,10] investigated how each EGR effect changes the operating parameters. They identied ve different effects of EGR: the charge heating, dilution, heat capacity, chemical, and stratication effects. They concluded that the charge heating effect advances the auto-ignition, increases the heat-release rate, and shortens the combustion duration. The dilution effect is not responsible for phasing the auto-ignition, but extends the combustion duration and slows down the heat-release rate. The heat capacity effect, like the dilution effect, extends the burn duration. The chemical effect just slightly reduces the combustion duration at high EGR rates. HCCI combustion is facilitated by the presence of a high temperature mixing region between the burned gases and the fresh fuel/air mixture as the stratication effects. When EGR is used, no change in combustion efciency has been reported [11], because the absolute combustion speed is fast enough to compensate the dilution effect. EGR does not have a major effect on pumping losses and in an acceptable operating range, slightly increases CO and HC emissions. Usually EGR has a maximum fraction limit. Beyond this limit, dilution effects and low concentration of O2 in the charge, cause unstable combustion, misring, and a high amount of HC and CO emissions. External EGR can avoid knocking at high loads, and consequently expands the high load limit. Machra et al. [12] studied the external EGR inuence on auto-ignition and particularly the chemical aspect of EGR. They concluded that especially the formation of OH radicals or their consumption by chemical additives determines how the reactivity of the auto-ignition changed. The dilution by N2 and CO2 of external EGR increase the amount of hydrocarbon emissions [13]. It makes oxygen content become less.

Additionally, the higher dilution leads to a lower peak temperature. The incomplete combustion can also increase the CO concentration. In the present study, a Waukesha CFR single cylinder research engine was operated in HCCI combustion mode and various EGR rates were used to control combustion phasing. 2. Experimental setup Experiments were conducted in the University of Alberta Fuel, Combustion and Emissions (FCE) research facility. All experiments were performed using a Waukesha CFR single cylinder research engine coupled to a DC motoring dynamometer. The basic engine specications for the current study are shown in Table 1. The engine was maintained at the constant speed of 800 rev/ min (RPM) and was operated with wide open throttle valve. The intake system included a 2.4 kW heater with a temperature controller to preheat intake air when required and maintain a constant intake temperature. Two port fuel injectors including one liquid fuel injector and one gaseous fuel injector were installed a short distance upstream of the intake valve to ensure proper mixing. The lubricating oil was maintained at a constant temperature using a heater. Un-cooled EGR was circulated through an external line to enter the intake plenum between the air heater and the fuel injectors. For these steady-state experiments, the EGR rate was manually controlled with a buttery valve. An AFS Sparrow-II engine control module was used to control the amount of each fuel injection individually or as a blend.
Table 1 Engine Specications. Parameter Engine model Engine type Combustion chamber Throttle Bore Stroke Displacement IVC EVO Speed (rpm) Compression ratio Fuel Intake temperature (C) data set I Intake temperature (C) data set II Specication Waukesha CFR Water cooled, single cylinder Disk cylinder head, at-top piston Fully open 82.6 mm 114.3 mm 612 cc 34 CAD, aBDC 40 CAD, bBDC 800 16 NG + n-heptane 140 100

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A BEI rotary incremental encoder with a resolution of 0.1 CAD was used to monitor engine rotational speed and coordinate the pressure trace with respect to crank position. Cylinder pressure was measured with a Kistler 6043A water cooled pressure transducer in combination with a Kistler 507 charge amplier. The pressure transducer was mounted in the cylinder wall close to the cylinder head. Experimental data were acquired using a personal computer running custom Labview software and using three high sampling rate NI PCI-MIO-16E1 data acquisition cards. The pressure trace signal was referenced to the intake pressure at the time of intake valve closed (IVC). Proper digital lter was applied to the pressure trace signal rejecting the high frequency noise. Two data sets including seven experimental conditions were tested. Data set I includes four cases with 8%, 24%, 34%, and 42% EGR, whereas data set II includes three cases with 0%, 3%, and 19% EGR. The EGR percents were calculated from the ratio of CO2 present in the intake and exhaust ows. n-Heptane was added to natural gas in order to enhance the HCCI combustion process. To avoid the inuence of intake charge temperature, it was kept constant at each data set. Table 2 illustrates the CFR engine operating conditions used in these experiments. The coolant temperature for all cases was set to 100 C. To eliminate the effects of cyclic variations, the pressure traces of all cases were averaged over 100 consecutive cycles. Averaged cylinder pressure traces were used in the subsequent calculations. 3. Heat release model The modied rst law heat release (MFLHR) model [14] was modied to include EGR effects. The gross heat release for an incremental crank angle interval, which is the energy released due to combustion, is:

Table 2b CFR engine operating conditions for data set II. Case 5 n-Heptane mass ow rate (mg/s) NG mass frac. (%) % EGR Heptane/O2 ratio Heater temp. (C) n-Heptane temp. (C) NG temp. (C) EGR temp. (C) Intake press (kPa) Octane (LHV method) 19.36 71.90 0.0 0.0501 117 26 29 35 89.7 87.63 Case 6 19.08 72.17 3.3 0.0503 116 26 29 42 89.7 87.94 Case 7 19.96 71.27 18.8 0.0617 117 27 30 76 89.6 86.89

a solver was developed for calculating the mean charge temperature [14]. The internal energy of the homogeneous charge including reactants, i.e. fuel vapor and air, and products which were supposed to be composed of 11 species, namely, CO2, H2O, CO, N2, O2, H2, OH, NO, O, H, N, according to the model of Olikara and Borman [15], was evaluated using the thermodynamic data of JANAF table. The correction of the temperature was achieved by solving the initial value problem of ordinary differential equation (ODE) of energy (Eq. (2)) using fourth-order RungeKutta method:

dT A5 T 5 A4 T 4 A3 T 3 A2 T 2 A1 T A6 dt

where A1 to A6 are instantaneous constants of the equation which are themselves functions of temperature, pressure and species mole fractions at any instant, obtained from arrangement of polynomial coefcients of overall 14 species together with their mole fractions and production rates. Eq. (2) was used to determine the corrected temperature by fourth-order RungeKutta method:

dQ gross us;R us;P dmR mR dus;R m mEGR mR dus;P mEGR dus;EGR pdV dQ ht 1

dT fcnt ; T & T 0 T IVC dt

where the step size equals to:

In this equation for the MFLHR model, U is the absolute internal energy of the cylinder contents. The cylinder content was considered to be a homogeneous mixture of reactants (denoted by the R index), products (denoted by P index), and recycled exhaust gases (denoted by the EGR index). Ideal gas assumption was used for all components of the cylinder charge. In Eq. (1), mR is the mass of reactants at any instant and dmR, is the change in mass of the reactant component due to combustion. dQht is the heat ux that includes heat transfer by convection [14]. The change in the sensible internal energy was considered to be functions of temperature and composition. As demonstrated in [14], by using the ideal gas law for estimating cylinder temperature, the cumulative gross heat release was not calculated correctly, even when utilizing MFLHR model. Hence,

0:1 6N

The temperature at IVC was calculated using measured pressure at IVC in the ideal gas law and applying the equilibrium combustion model [15] to calculate specic gas constant. 4. Results and discussion One of the most important outcomes of MFLHR model is the calculated mean charge temperature. Fig. 1 depicts in-cylinder mean

1890
8% EGR 24% EGR 34% EGR 42% EGR

a - data set I

Temperature [ K ]

Table 2a CFR engine operating conditions for data set I. Case 1 n-Heptane mass ow rate (mg/s) NG mass frac. (%) % EGR Heptane/O2 ratio Heater temp. (C) n-Heptane temp. (C) NG temp. (C) EGR temp. (C) Intake press (kPa) Octane (LHV method) 18.21 65.04 8.4 0.0537 184 26 30 39 90.5 79.57 Case 2 19.25 63.85 23.7 0.0718 182 26 30 79 90.4 78.17 Case 3 18.79 64.21 33.7 0.0834 184 27 30 101 90.4 78.59 Case 4 18.89 64.01 41.6 0.0924 185 27 29 110 90.4 78.35

1390

890

390 -40

-30

-20

-10 CAD a, TDC

10

20

Fig. 1a. Calculated in-cylinder mean charge temperature for data set I.

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1990
0% EGR

80

b - data set II

70

0% EGR 3% EGR 19% EGR

b - data set II

Temperature [ K ]

3% EGR

1490

19% EGR

Pressure [bar]
-20 -10 CAD a, TDC 0 10 20

60 50 40 30 20 10

990

490
-40 -30

-40

-30

-20

-10

10

20

CAD a, TDC
Fig. 2b. Averaged measured in-cylinder pressure traces for data set II.

Fig. 1b. Calculated in-cylinder mean charge temperature for data set II.

charge temperature calculated from the correction procedure in MFLHR model. Recycled exhaust gases contain tri-atomic molecules such as H2O and CO2. The presence of these species increases the heat capacity of the mixture and reduces the overall specic heat ratio. This makes the mixture become heat-absorbing or a thermal sink to decrease the after-compression temperature. The other reason why the peak in-cylinder charge temperature reduces with EGR is because the auto-ignition timing is delayed by applying EGR. Applying EGR affects in-cylinder pressure. The averaged measured cylinder pressure traces for two data sets are illustrated in Fig. 2. EGR decreases the peak cylinder pressure. This reduction is due to the fact that recycled exhaust gases serve as a thermal sink, which in turn, as afore mentioned, reduces the charge temperature during combustion. As can be seen, the pressure rise rate reduces with EGR, too. This decrease is to some extent due to the lower peak temperature. By the way, in a xed air/fuel ratio the delivered fuel mass decreases with EGR which results in a reduction in combustion pressure and temperature. The reduction in pressure rise rate by EGR is a means to avoid incidence of knocking. Heat transfer rate is also calculated from MFLHR model. It is illustrated in Fig. 3 that heat transfer rate reduces with EGR. Heat transfer coefcient is proportional to pressure and inversely proportional to temperature. Heat transfer coefcient does not vary signicantly with EGR, since by increasing EGR rate both temperature and pressure experience a reduction. However, as afore mentioned, temperature decreases with EGR, hence the heat ux of convective heat transfer reduces with EGR as a result of charge temperature reduction and thus temperature difference reduction. Gross HRR for two mentioned data sets are shown in Fig. 4. As can be seen, applying EGR has profound effect on HRR magnitude and phasing. Recycled exhaust gases substitute part of fresh intake, and as a result affect in-cylinder equivalence ratio, and conse-

Fig. 3a. Calculated convective wall heat transfer rate for data set I.

Fig. 3b. Calculated convective wall heat transfer rate for data set II.

70
8% EGR

a - data set I
Gross HRR [ J / deg ]

140
8% EGR 24% EGR

a - data set I

60

24% EGR 34% EGR 42% EGR

Pressure [bar]

50 40 30 20 10 0
-40

90

34% EGR 42% EGR

40

-30

-20

-10
CAD a, TDC

10

20

-10 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20

CAD a, TDC
Fig. 4a. The effect of EGR on gross heat release rate for data set I.

Fig. 2a. Averaged measured in-cylinder pressure traces for data set I.

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0% EGR

b - data set II

b - Combustion Duration
6

Gross HRR [ J / deg ]

3% EGR

90

19% EGR

CAD
40

5 4 3

-10
-40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20

10

20

30

40

50

% EGR
Fig. 5b. The inuence of EGR on combustion duration.

CAD a, TDC
Fig. 4b. The effect of EGR on gross heat release rate for data set II.

quently the combustion process. Also the species in the recycled exhaust gases by their chemical effects can be utilized to control the HRR. This can delay SOC and prolong burn duration. These trends increase operating range and removes maximum IMEP limit. The inuence of EGR on combustion timing is demonstrated in Fig. 5. EGR increases specic heat of the charge. Thus, by applying EGR, in-cylinder charge temperature decreases and as a result the ignition tends to be initiated later in the cycle. As mentioned before, EGR introduces non-reacting species such as tri-atomic molecules and also affects in-cylinder equivalence ratio. These trends tend to slow down the pre-ignition reactions leading to auto-ignition of the charge and prolong the combustion duration. The results of both data sets agree with these trends. As can be seen in Fig. 5a applying EGR resulted in SOC retardation. Also, the combustion duration shown in Fig. 5b indicates that increased EGR rate led to an increase in combustion duration. Indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) was calculated using cylinder pressure trace. It is dened as the indicated work output per unit of engine swept volume. IMEP was calculated for each individual cycle and then averaged over the range of cycles which was 100 cycles for each operating point. Fig. 6 illustrates IMEP with respect to EGR percent. It can be seen that, there is a slight change in IMEP with EGR which is consistent with previous results [16]. Indicated specic fuel consumption (ISFC) shows how effectively the charged fuel is utilized in the engine to do work on pistons. SOC retardation tends to reduce ISFC; meanwhile increasing EGR percentages has opposite effect due to its inuence on incomplete combustion. As can be seen in Fig. 7 this trade-off led to a decrease in ISFC with EGR which is the effect of SOC retardation. Fig. 8 depicts the inuence of EGR on measured emissions. Applying EGR is a well-known method for NOx reduction in conventional engines. In HCCI engines due to the very fast combustion process and short combustion duration, there is not enough time

3 2.8

data set I data set II

imep [bar]

2.6 2.4 2.2 2 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

% EGR
Fig. 6. IMEP vs. EGR for two data sets.

230 225

data set I data set II

ISFC [ gr / kw-hr ]

220 215 210 205 200 195 190 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

% EGR
Fig. 7. The inuence of EGR on indicated specic fuel consumption.

a - NOx

data set I data set II

a - Start Of Combustion

data set I data set II

ppm

CAD, aTDC

-1 0
1

10

20

30

40

50

% EGR
Fig. 8a. The inuence of EGR on emission characteristics of NOx.

-2
0 10 20 30 40 50

% EGR
Fig. 5a. The inuence of EGR on Start of Combustion.

for the formation of high NOx emissions. Fig. 8a shows that NOx emissions in the examined conditions are low. Data set I has an ultra low NOx emission characteristic due to its lower charge

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6500

b - HC
5500

emissions were also evaluated. Results of this work can be summarized as follows:  The calculated temperature from MFLHR model indicates that, the mean in-cylinder charge temperature and peak charge temperature reduces with EGR.  EGR decreases peak cylinder pressure and pressure rise rate during combustion.  The apparent heat release rate diagrams obtained from MFLHR model obviously indicate that combustion phasing alters with EGR. The auto-ignition timing is delayed and the burn duration is prolonged by applying more EGR.  ISFC is decreased with EGR as a result of SOC retardation.  EGR does not have similar effects on different species emission characteristics. It lowers in-cylinder NOx formation, meanwhile increasing HC and CO emissions. Generally speaking, EGR is a promised means of enhancing HCCI combustion. However, each engine needs to be mapped to nd the best EGR amount to meet overall challenges due to HCCI combustion. To achieve this goal, the developed MFLHR model can be used as a diagnostic tool to reduce number of required experiments. References
[1] Onishi S, Jo SH, Shoda K, Jo PD, Kato S. Active thermo-atmosphere combustion (ATAC) a new combustion process for internal combustion engines. SAE paper 790501; 1979. [2] Duret P, Gatellier B, Monteiro L, Miche M, Zima P, Maroteaux D, et al. Progress in diesel HCCI combustion within the European SPACE LIGHT project. SAE paper 2004-01-1904; 2004. [3] Sjoberg M, Dec JE. An investigation of the relationship between measured intake temperature, BDC temperature, and combustion phasing for premixed and DI HCCI engines. SAE paper 2004-01-1900; 2004. [4] Hampson GJ. Heat release design method for HCCI in diesel engines. SAE paper 2005-01-3728; 2005. [5] Hosseini V, Checkel MD. Using reformer gas to enhance HCCI combustion of NG in a CFR engine. SAE paper 2006-01-3247; 2006. [6] Gan S, Ng HK, Pang KM. Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion: implementation and effects on pollutants in direct injection diesel engines. Appl Energy 2011;88:55967. [7] Olsson J-O, Tunestl P, Ulfvik J, Johansson B. The effect of cooled EGR on emissions and performance of a turbocharged HCCI engine. SAE paper 200301-0743; 2003. [8] Oakley A, Zhao H, Ladommatos N, Ma T. Experimental studies on controlled auto-ignition (CAI) combustion of gasoline in a 4-stroke engine. SAE paper 2001-01-1030; 2001. [9] Zhao H, Peng Z, Williams J, Ladommatos N. Understanding the effects of recycled burnt gases on the controlled autoignition (CAI) combustion in fourstroke gasoline engines. SAE paper 2001-01-3607; 2001. [10] Zhao H, Peng Z, Ladommatos N. Understanding of controlled autoignition combustion in a four-stroke gasoline engine. Proc Inst Mech Eng Part D: J Autom Eng 2001;215(3):1297310. [11] Morimoto S, Kawabata Y, Sakurai T, Amano T. Operating characteristics of a natural gas-red homogeneous charge compression ignition engine (performance improvement using EGR). SAE paper 2001-01-1034; 2001. [12] Machra H, Cavadias S, Guibert P. An experimental and numerical investigation on the inuence of external gas recirculation on the HCCI autoignition process in an engine: thermal, diluting, and chemical effects. Combust Flame 2008;155:47689. [13] Machra H, Cavadias S, Amouroux J. A parametric study on the emissions from an HCCI alternative combustion engine resulting from the auto-ignition of primary reference fuels. Appl Energy 2008;85:75564. [14] Fathi M, Saray Rk, Checkel MD. Detailed approach for apparent heat release analysis in HCCI engines. Fuel 2010;89:232330. [15] Olikara C, Borman G. A computer program for calculating properties of equilibrium combustion products with some applications on IC engines. SAE paper 750468; 1975. [16] Au MY, Girard JW, Dibble R, Flowers D, Aceves SM, Martinez-Frias J, et al. 1.9Liter four-cylinder HCCI engine operation with exhaust gas recirculation. SAE paper 2001-01-1894; 2001.

ppm
4500 3500 0 10 20 30 40 50

% EGR
Fig. 8b. The inuence of EGR on emission characteristics of HC.

0.3

c - CO Percent

0.2

0.1 0 10 20 30 40 50

% EGR
Fig. 8c. The inuence of EGR on emission characteristics of CO.

temperature and air mass ow rate. Increasing EGR percent in data set II led to the reduction of NOx emissions in the exhaust stream. This trend is mainly due to two reasons. First, applying EGR decreases peak cylinder temperature, leading to a decrease in NOx formation. Second, applying EGR decreases O2 concentration. Hence, the reduction of in-cylinder O2 due to the dilution effect of applying EGR results in NOx formation reduction. Fig. 8b illustrates HC emissions with respect to EGR percentage. It can be seen that increased EGR rate results in increased HC emissions. This trend is also due to the above mentioned reasons. The latter (decreased O2 concentration) has another effect, too. The low availability of O2 leads to a reduction in the rate of oxidation reactions, which in turn causes incomplete combustion, the result of which is higher unburned HC emissions. The former reason (reduced charge temperature), which is favorable in reducing NOx formation, makes the fuel oxidation not to be fully achievable, and consequently increases HC emissions. These trends can also be seen in CO emission trends. As Fig. 8c demonstrates, CO emissions increase with increased amount of EGR due to lower charge temperature and available O2, which leads to incomplete combustion and as a result high CO formation. 5. Conclusions In this study, the effect of applying EGR on HCCI combustion and emission characteristics was investigated. The investigations were based on a MFLHR model [14] which has been previously developed to be applicable in HCCI combustion engines. Measured