Is it possible to convert a diesel engine to gas
Today, many car owners are switching their gasoline engines to gas. The owners of cars with diesel ICE cannot do this purely gas injection - this is simply unrealistic, since the diesel fuel does not ignite from the spark plug, the diesel ignites from compression in the combustion chamber, it simply detonates. The engine running on diesel fuel creates about 20 atm., And propane-butane easily transfers pressure to 42 atm. So the critical pressure for natural gas, the rate is even higher - 46 atm.
Modern gas diesel: joint injection
Joint injection implies a minimum injection of diesel fuel into the combustion chamber, for initial ignition from the nominal pressure. Then the rest of the space in the cylinders is filled by the gas-air mixture. This whole process is regulated by an electronic unit (brains) with a stitched control program.
Some 4th generation gas installations operate in a similar pattern. Only in them the injection is due to other reasons: gas-gasoline engine injectors experience a huge thermal load if gasoline does not pass through them, whereas in a gas-diesel engine diesel fuel acts only as a “starter”.
Installation cost
Alterations for gas diesel, the option is certainly not cheap. But when replaced with cheaper fuel with mileage of 100 thousand km a year, the savings will be noticeable. Therefore, they willingly put such installations on commercial and water transport, as well as on scheduled buses.
We can say that with the constant rise in prices for diesel fuel, diesel-on-gas technology is becoming a good alternative for diesel cars, whose daily mileage is 200-300 km.
Choosing methane or propane
On propane-butane, the injection portion into the combustion chamber barely reaches 40%. Everything else - DT. This is due to the chemical characteristics of the gas, but development companies are constantly improving this topic. Savings with propane today, of course, less than with methane.
Natural gas injection is 70%, and therefore the savings are much more noticeable. But the diesel - methane version of the equipment, is twice as expensive. The reason is that the technology for making cylinders is completely different, other standards are used for transporting methane, they withstand more pressure, and of course heavier. So, after analyzing several installations, one can say that the conversion of a diesel engine to gas is possible only with joint injection, be it propane or methane.
Of course, such a modernization of a diesel engine, of course, has a good effect on its resource. The engine will start to work softer, that diesel growl will be gone. Western logical companies have long been using this technology.