Internal Modifications to Optimize Pollution and Emissions of Internal Combustion Engines through Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making and Artificial Neural Networks

The present work proposes several modifications to optimize both emissions and consumption in a commercial marine diesel engine. A numerical model was carried out to characterize the emissions and consumption of the engine under several performance parameters. Particularly, five internal modifications were analyzed: water addition; exhaust gas recirculation; and modification of the intake valve closing, overlap timing, and cooling water temperature. It was found that the result on the emissions and consumption presents conflicting criteria, and thus, a multiple-criteria decision-making model was carried out to characterize the most appropriate parameters. In order to analyze a high number of possibilities in a reasonable time, an artificial neural network was developed.