Acceleration tests using gasolines formulated with di-TAE, TAEE and MTBE ethers

This study evaluates the acceleration and performance of car engines fueled by gasoline formulated with di-tert-amyl ether (di-TAE), tert-amyl ethyl ether (TAEE), and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), whose compositions contain an oxygen concentration of 2.7 wt.%. The performance tests were carried out in a roll dynamometer using a Fiat-Strada commercial vehicle equipped with open-loop electronic fuel injection. The use of ethers from partially renewable sources, such as di-TAE and TAEE in gasoline formulations, is an attractive alternative to reduce fossil fuel consumption. These ethers, both pure and in formulations, require a lower air/fuel ratio, since part of the oxygen needed to oxidize the fuel is already present in the molecule. The results obtained in acceleration tests using gasoline formulated with the di-TAE, TAEE and MTBE ethers indicated that the best acceleration response was obtained with the gasoline/TAEE mixture and the lowest specific consumption was with the gasoline/di-TAE mixture. TAEE is an adequate alternative to replace MTBE in Otto cycle internal combustion engines, since this compound is partially biorenewable and provides a comparable thermal efficiency and lower specific fuel consumption.     

Investigations on surrogate fuels for high-octane oxygenated gasolines

Gasoline is a complex mixture that possesses a quasi-continuous spectrum of hydrocarbon constituents. Surrogate fuels that decrease the chemical and/or physical complexity of gasoline are used to enhance the understanding of fundamental processes involved in internal combustion engines (ICEs). Computational tools are largely used in ICE development and in performance optimization; however, it is not possible to model full gasoline in kinetic studies because the interactions among the chemical constituents are not fully understood and the kinetics of all gasoline components are not known. Modeling full gasoline with computer simulations is also cost prohibitive. Thus, surrogate mixtures are studied to produce improved models that represent fuel combustion in practical devices such as homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) and spark ignition (SI) engines. Simplified mixtures that represent gasoline performance in commercial engines can be used in investigations on the behavior of fuel components, as well as in fuel development studies. In this study, experimental design was used to investigate surrogate fuels. To this end, SI engine dynamometer tests were conducted, and the performance of a high-octane, oxygenated gasoline was reproduced. This study revealed that mixtures of iso-octane, toluene, n-heptane and ethanol could be used as surrogate fuels for oxygenated gasolines. These mixtures can be used to investigate the effect of individual components on fuel properties and commercial engines performance.     

The influence of oxygenated fuels on emissions of aldehydes and ketones from a two-stroke spark ignition engine

A spark-ignited two-stroke chainsaw engine was used to study the influence of pure oxygenated fuels on exhaust emissions of carbonyls (aldehydes and ketones) and regulated emissions, i.e. hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxides (NO_x). Three fuels—methanol, methyl tert-butylether (MTBE), and ethyl tert-butylether (ETBE)—were used in the tests, each at three air/fuel ratios (λ) and the generated emissions were compared to those observed in previous tests with ethanol, aliphatic gasoline, and regular gasoline. Use of all four oxygenated fuels (ETBE, ethanol, methanol and MTBE) resulted in substantially higher total carbonyl emissions (11, 11, 8.9 and 7.8 g/kWh, respectively) than use of both aliphatic and regular gasoline (2.1 and 2.6 g/kWh, respectively). Further, up to 44-fold higher levels of specific carbonyls were generated from the oxygenated fuels than from regular gasoline: significant amounts of formaldehyde were produced from all of the oxygenated fuels, but they were especially high from methanol and MTBE; acetaldehyde was formed in high amounts from ethanol and ETBE; while acetone and methacrolein were formed from both MTBE and ETBE. In addition, increases in λ increased exhaust emissions of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, and methacrolein in cases where these were the main carbonyls formed. Increasing λ also variously increased, reduced or had no significant effect on emissions of other measured carbonyls. Lower amounts of CO and NO_x emissions were formed from all oxygenates (especially methanol) than from regular gasoline.     

Combustion of n-butanol in a spark-ignition IC engine

Alcohols, because of their potential to be produced from renewable sources and because of their high quality characteristics for spark-ignition (SI) engines, are considered quality fuels which can be blended with fossil-based gasoline for use in internal combustion engines. They enable the transformation of our energy basis in transportation to reduce dependence on fossil fuels as an energy source for vehicles. The research presented in this work is focused on applying n-butanol as a blending agent additive to gasoline to reduce the fossil part in the fuel mixture and in this way to reduce life cycle CO₂ emissions. The impact on combustion processes in a spark-ignited internal combustion engine is also detailed. Blends of n-butanol to gasoline with ratios of 0%, 20%, and 60% in addition to near n-butanol have been studied in a single cylinder cooperative fuels research engine (CFR) SI engine with variable compression ratio manufactured by Waukesha Engine Company. The engine is modified to provide air control and port fuel injection. Engine control and monitoring was performed using a target-based rapid-prototyping system with electronic sensors and actuators installed on the engine [1]. A real-time combustion analysis system was applied for data acquisition and online analysis of combustion quantities. Tests were performed under stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratios, fixed engine torque, and compression ratios of 8:1 and 10:1 with spark timing sweeps from 18° to 4° before top dead center (BTDC). On the basis of the experimental data, combustion characteristics for these fuels have been determined as follows: mass fraction burned (MFB) profile, rate of MFB, combustion duration and location of 50% MFB. Analysis of these data gives conclusions about combustion phasing for optimal spark timing for maximum break torque (MBT) and normalized rate for heat release. Additionally, susceptibility of 20% and 60% butanol-gasoline blends on combustion knock was investigated. Simultaneously, comparison between these fuels and pure gasoline in the above areas was investigated. Finally, on the basis of these conclusions, characteristic of these fuel blends as substitutes of gasoline for a series production engine were discussed.     

Investigation on combustion and emissions of DME/gasoline mixtures in a spark-ignition engine

Dimethyl ether (DME) has a lot of good properties and is thought to be one of the best alternative fuels for IC engines in the future. In order to improve the efficiency, combustion stability and emissions performance of a spark-ignited (SI) gasoline engine at stoichiometric condition, an experimental study aiming at improving engine performance through DME addition was carried out on a four-cylinder SI engine. The engine was modified to be fueled with the mixture of gasoline and DME which were injected into the engine intake ports simultaneously. A hybrid electronic control unit (HECU) was dedicatedly developed to control the injection timings and durations of gasoline and DME. The spark timing was adjusted to reach the maximum brake torque (MBT) without knocking. Various DME fractions were selected to investigate the effect of DME addition on engine performance, thermal efficiency, combustion characteristics, cyclic variation and emissions under stoichiometric conditions. The experimental results showed that thermal efficiency, NOx and HC emissions are improved with the increase of DME addition level. The combustion performance was improved when DME addition fraction was less than 10%. CO emission first decreased and then increased with the increase of DME enrichment level at stoichiometric condition.     

Structure of evaporating single- and multicomponent fuel sprays for 2nd generation gasoline direct injection

In the present paper the effect of fuel properties on spray formation and evaporation was investigated for a hollow-cone spray of a piezoelectric injector for Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI) engines. Late injection timing in a high-pressure atmosphere (1.5 MPa, 200 °C) was simulated in an injection chamber. Liquid and vapor phase structure of the hollow-cone spray were studied with 2D-Mie scattering, laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) as well as phase-Doppler anemometry (PDA). The spray structure was investigated for several alkanes with high and low volatility (n-hexane, n-heptane, iso-octane, n-decane) and a three-component mixture of the n-alkanes with similar fuel properties like a multicomponent gasoline fuel. It is found that the rapid evaporation of high volatility fuels can lead to spray destabilization, whereas low volatility single-component fuels overestimate radial spray propagation and vortex formation. For iso-octane the droplet size distribution is shifted to smaller droplets and the spray appeared to be less dense compared to n-heptane despite almost identical boiling behavior. However, the much higher viscosity of iso-octane determines the internal nozzle flow which results in a reduced injected fuel mass and changed atomization. A well defined three-component fuel models the global spray characteristics as well as the droplet size, droplet momentum distribution and evaporation behavior of the used multicomponent gasoline fuel very precisely. Small amounts of low volatility fractions delay the droplet evaporation and support the overall spray stability also for multicomponent mixtures. This leads to an increased spray width as well as larger droplet sizes and momenta. The evaporation characteristic of multicomponent fuels at increased ambient pressure is complex. At the studied injection conditions it is situated between the two limiting cases of distillation-like behavior and coevaporation of the components. Moreover, the results in comparison with theoretical estimations indicate a demixing of light and heavy boiling fractions in the three-component and multicomponent fuel under conditions which are typical for DISI strategies with late injection.     

Addition of an azeotropic ETBE/ethanol mixture in eurosuper-type gasolines

This study proposes an azeotropic ETBE/ethanol mixture as a possible oxygenated additive for the formulation of eurosuper-type gasolines. Two eurosuper gasolines with different chemical compositions and well defined characteristics of density, volatility and octane numbers are used. Gasoline formulations containing azeotropic mixtures display an intermediary behavior between that of ETBE (ethyl tert-butyl ether) and ethanol in gasoline blends. Formulations containing this additive offer advantages over ethanol (low volatility and low solubility in water) and ETBE (higher octane number and lower production cost). Gasolines with azeotropic additives show lower Reid vapor pressures (RVPs) than gasolines formulated with ethanol, and therefore low levels of volatile organic compounds, similarly to highly pure ETBE. The use of the azeotropic mixture containing ethanol (renewable, deriving from biomass) and ETBE (produced from ethanol and isobutene) in its formulation is environmentally attractive in industrialized countries due to the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.     

Quality analysis of automotive fuel using solvatochromic probes

The effect of ethanol addition to pure gasoline on the solvatochromic band of dyes 2,6-diphenyl-4-(2,4,6-triphenylpyridinium-1-yl)phenolate (1), 2,6-di(4-tert-butylphenyl)-4-[2,4,6-tri(4-tert-butylphenyl)pyridinium-1-yl]phenolate (2), 1-(4-dimethylaminophenyl)-2-nitroethylene (3), and 1-(4-dimethylaminophenyl)-2-nitropropene (4) was investigated. The dyes are very soluble in gasoline–ethanol mixtures. The data show the occurrence of strong preferential solvation of the dyes by ethanol in all mixtures. Solutions of dye 2 are blue–green in gasoline, violet in ethanol, and green–blue in gasoline with 25% of ethanol, which allows a naked-eye detection of the presence of ethanol in gasoline. Also, the use of solvatochromic dyes to develop an analytical method for the determination of the quality of fuels is discussed.     

The use of pure methanol as fuel at high compression ratio in a single cylinder gasoline engine

The methanol has greater resistance to knock and it emits lower emissions than neat gasoline. As single cylinder small engines have low compression ratio (CR), and they run with slightly rich mixture, their power are low and emission values are high. The performance can be increased at high CR if these engines are run with fuels which have high octane number. In this study, methanol was used at high CR to increase performance and decrease emissions of a single-cylinder engine. Initially, the engine whose CR was 6/1 was tested with gasoline and methanol at full load and various speeds. Then, the CR was raised from 6/1 to 8/1and 10/1, gradually. The knock was not observed at the CRs of 8/1 and 10/1 when using methanol while the knock was observed at the CR of 8/1 when using gasoline. The knock was determined from the cylinder pressure-time curves. The results showed that some decreases were obtained in CO, CO₂ and NO_x emissions without any noticeable power loss when using methanol at the CR of 6/1. By increasing the CR from 6/1 to 10/1 with methanol, the engine power and brake thermal efficiency increased by up to 14% and 36%, respectively. Moreover, CO, CO₂ and NO_x emissions were reduced by about 37%, 30% and 22%, respectively.     

Studying the Influence of Alumina Catalysts Doped with Tin and Zinc Oxides in the Soybean Oil Pyrolysis Reaction

The pyrolysis of vegetable oils consists of cracking triglycerides to produce smaller molecules. A mixture of hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds, such as carboxylic acids and aldehydes, is obtained as the product and which can be separated by fractional distillation. When the reaction is carried out in the absence of catalysts (thermal cracking), a great quantity of these oxygenated compounds is obtained. Thus, the presence of those oxygenated compounds in the products results in a high level of acidity, which can be a problem when using them as fuels in combustion engines. The aim of this work was to study the composition of the products obtained by cracking of vegetable oils assisted by γ-alumina doped with zinc and tin oxides. The products were analyzed by FT-IR, GC-MS and GC-FID and the acid number was determined by titration with alcoholic KOH solution. The acid number, infrared spectra and chromatograms of the resulting hydrocarbon mixtures indicated a significant reduction in oxygenated compounds when compared with the mixtures obtained by the thermal cracking process, thus decreasing the acidity of the mixture.     

Computer simulation of hydrogen-diesel dual fuel exhaust gas emissions with experimental verification

The drawback of lean operation with hydrocarbon fuels is a reduced power output. Lean operation of hydrocarbon engines has additional drawbacks. Lean mixtures are hard to ignite, despite the mixture being above the low fire (point) limit of the fuel. This results in misfire, which increases un-burned hydrocarbon emissions, reduces performance and wastes fuel. Hydrogen can be used in conjunction with compact liquid fuels such as gasoline; alcohol or diesel provided each is stored separately.Mixing hydrogen with other hydrocarbon fuels reduces all of these drawbacks. Hydrogen’s low ignition energy limit and high burning speed makes the hydrogen/hydrocarbon mixture easier to ignite, reducing misfire and thereby improving emissions, performance and fuel economy. Regarding power output, hydrogen augments the mixture’s energy density at lean mixtures by increasing the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio, and thereby improves torque at wide-open throttle conditions.This paper involves the simulation program for determining the mole fraction of each of the exhaust species when the hydrogen is burnt along with diesel and the results are presented. The proportion of hydrogen in the hydrogen-diesel blend affecting the mole fraction of the exhaust species is also simulated. Experimental investigations were carried out, in hydrogen-diesel dual fuel mode, which showed a good agreement between the predicted and experimental results. The program code developed is valid for any combination of dual fuels.     

Methyl Ethyl Ketone Production through an Intensified Process

Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) is widely used in the industry and is mainly produced from petroleum. Some works have projected MEK as a possible fuel since its performance in spark engines has overcome the performance of gasoline in certain indexes. Two intensified alternatives to produce MEK are introduced here, consisting of a reactive distillation column, an extractive distillation column, and three conventional distillation columns. The direct alternative resulted as the most promising when it was evaluated based on energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and an environmental index. The obtained energy consumption for MEK production was 11.62 MJ kg_MEK⁻¹ for the entire process. Moreover, those intensified alternatives showed better performance indexes in comparison with a conventional process.     

A fundamental study on the control of the HCCI combustion and emissions by fuel design concept combined with controllable EGR. Part 1. The basic characteristics of HCCI combustion

This article investigates the basic combustion parameters including start of the ignition timing, burn duration, cycle-to-cycle variation, and carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbon (UHC), and nitric oxide (NO_x) emissions of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines fueled with primary reference fuels (PRFs) and their mixtures. Two primary reference fuels, n-heptane and iso-octane, and their blends with RON25, RON50, RON75, and RON90 were evaluated. The experimental results show that, in the first-stage combustion, the start of ignition retards, the maximum heat release rate decreases, and the pressure rising and the temperature rising during the first-stage combustion decrease with the increase of the research octane number (RON). Furthermore, the cumulative heat release in the first-stage combustion is strongly dependent on the concentration of n-heptane in the mixture. The start of ignition of the second-stage combustion is linear with the start of ignition of the first-stage. The combustion duration of the second-stage combustion decreases with the increase of the equivalence ration and the decrease of the octane number. The cycle-to-cycle variation improved with the decrease of the octane number.     

Alternative fuel and gasoline in an SI engine: A comparative study of performance and emissions characteristics

The strict regulation of environmental laws, the price of oil and its restricted resources, has made engine manufacturers use other energy resources instead of oil and its products. Despite the fact that nowadays alternative fuels are not currently widely used in vehicular applications, using these kinds of fuels will be definitely inevitable in the future. In this paper, a computer code is developed in Matlab environment and then its results are validated with experimental data. This simulated engine model could be used as an powerful tool to investigate the performance and emission of a given SI engine fueled by alternative fuels including hydrogen, propane, methane, ethanol and methanol. Also, the superior of alternative fuels is shown by comparing the performance and emissions of alternative fueled engines to those in conventional fueled engines. Eventually, it is concluded that volumetric efficiency of the engine working on hydrogen is the lowest (28% less that gasoline fueled engine), gasoline produce more power than the all being tested alternative fuels and BSFC of methanol is 91% higher than that of gasoline while BSFC of hydrogen is 63% less than gasoline.     

Gasoline displacement and NOx reduction in an SI engine by aqueous alcohol injection

Substitution of bio-fuels for fossil fuels in gasoline engines is conventionally achieved by premixing ethanol and gasoline before use. The drawbacks are the high purity ethanol (>95%) required for mixing to prevent phase separation and the invariable fraction of ethanol throughout the drive cycle. In this study, an independently controlled set of aqueous alcohols injectors were installed at the manifold alongside the gasoline injectors. Aqueous alcohols with high water content can be injected as a substitutional fuel for gasoline. The fraction of ethanol can be controlled to achieve best engine performance and emissions. Engine tests showed that, at highway driving condition, the engine compensated for the aqueous alcohol and reduced gasoline flowrate. However, at high-load running, the ECU (Engine Control Unit) no longer reads the feedback signals to reduce gasoline supply and the engine burned at fuel-rich conditions; both the engine performance and emissions deteriorated.     

Aging effects on gasoline-ethanol blend properties and composition

Blends of 75% gasoline and 25% ethanol (E25) are unique fuels used in Brazil. The natural E25 oxidation process due to aging under atmospheric conditions has been investigated. To evaluate aging effects on the properties of commercially available fuel blends, two samples of regular E25, one sample of regular E25 with additives, and one sample of high octane E25 were tested. The samples were analyzed as new and in aging periods of 30 and 180 days. Fuel density, distillation temperatures T₁₀, T₅₀ and T₉₀, motor and research octane number, as well as concentrations of ethanol, oxygen, olefins, total aromatics, benzene and saturates were evaluated. It was observed an increase of fuel density, distillation temperatures, aromatics and oxygen concentration, and a decrease of the concentration of olefins with aging. The results indicate that the use of aged fuel in automotive engines may increase fuel consumption, carbon deposits formation, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions.     

Laminar burning velocities of three C3H6O isomers at atmospheric pressure

Laminar flames of three C₃H₆O isomers (propylene oxide, propionaldehyde and acetone), representative of cyclic ether, aldehyde and ketone species important as intermediates in oxygenated fuel combustion, have been studied experimentally and computationally. Most of these flames exhibited a non-linear dependency of flame speed upon stretch rate and two complementary independent techniques were adopted to provide the most reliable burning velocity data. Significant differences in burning velocity were noted for the three isomers: propylene oxide + air mixtures burned fastest, then propionaldehyde + air, with acetone + air flames being the slowest; the latter also required stronger ignition sources. Numerical modelling of these flames was based on the Konnov mechanism, enhanced with reactions specific to these oxygenated fuels. The chemical kinetics mechanism predicted flame velocities in qualitative rather than quantitative agreement with the measurements. Sensitivity analysis suggested that the calculated flame speeds had only a weak dependency upon parent fuel-specific reactions rates; however, consideration of possible break-up routes of the primary fuels has allowed identification of intermediate compounds, the chemistry of which requires a better definition.     

An experimental study for the effects of boost pressure on the performance and exhaust emissions of a DI-HCCI gasoline engine

As an alternative combustion mode, the HCCI combustion has some benefits compared to conventional SI and CI engines, such as low NO_x emission and high thermal efficiency. However, this combustion mode can produce higher UHC and CO emissions than those of conventional engines. In the naturally aspirated HCCI engines, the low engine output power limits its use in the current engine technologies. Intake air pressure boosting is a common way to improve the engine output power which is widely used in high performance SI and CI engine applications. Therefore, in this study, the effect of inlet air pressure on the performance and exhaust emissions of a DI-HCCI gasoline engine has been investigated after converting a heavy-duty diesel engine to a HCCI direct-injection gasoline engine. The experiments were performed at three different inlet air pressures while operating the engine at the same equivalence ratio and intake air temperature as in normally aspirated HCCI engine condition at different engine speeds. The SOI timing was set dependently to achieve the maximum engine torque at each test condition. The effects of inlet air pressure both on the emissions such as CO, UHC and NO_x and on the performance parameters such as BSFC, torque, thermal and combustion efficiencies have been discussed. The relationships between the emissions are also provided.     

THE SEPARATION OF ISOPROPYL ETHER FROM METHYL ETHYL KETONE BY EXTRACTIVE DISTILLATION

Isopropyl ether (IPE) cannot be completely separated from its mixtures with methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) by distillation because of the presence of the minimum binary azeotrope. However these two can be readily separated by using extractive distillation in which the extractive distillation agent is a higher boiling oxygenated, nitrogenous and/or sulfur containing organic compound or a mixture of these. Typical examples of effective agents are: ethylene carbonate; adiponitrile and 1,4-butanediol; sulfolane, dimethyl-sulfoxide (DMSO) and triethylene glycol.     

Oxygenate fuels: Market expansion and catalytic aspect of synthesis

Periodical oil crises, environmental issues, and energy consumption optimisation brought oxygenated compounds into consideration as fuel additives with the role of enhancer and/or octane booster. Their progressive introduction into the fuel market is examined in the light of technical and legislative motivation. Their different roles played in the fuel formulation are recognised and their past, present and future importance is discussed here. Light alcohols and ethers offer different and specific advantages in meeting the clean fuel requirements. Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) has been the preferred product up to now; positive future perspectives can be envisaged for the less volatile ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) and methyl-tert amyl ether (TAME). A schematic oxygenate production pattern is reported allowing to clarify the complex integration of oxygenate manufacture with, natural gas, refinery and petrochemical. The main reactions involved are outlined. Alcohol addition to tertiary olefins appears to be a focal point in oxygenated production leading to alkyl tert-alkyl ethers (MTBE, ETBE, TAME). The industrial production of ethers started in 1972 in Italy and grew impressively: from 50,000 tons/year to about 30 million tons/year actually. Parallel to the industrial development fundamental studies were done to clarify the mechanism of reaction, the role and criteria of choice of catalysts. This review covers the thermodynamic, kinetic and catalytic aspects of the reaction. The results available in the literature are referred, compared and discussed.