NEW ALTERNATIVE FUELS FOR I.C. ENGINES - A REVIEW Andrzej Kowalewicz, Malgorzata Wojtyniak Technical University of Radom Al. Chrobrego 45, 26-600 Radom, Poland Tel. 48 3617653 Fax 48 3617644 e-mail: malgorzata_wojtyniak@op pl Abwiract Inereosed envirnamental protection concern. growing ergy demand and nced 1 rede. the epondeney an ere core tha the wd is loking for ness and renewable energy resoncies. Mon teenie fucs are applied currently Bt ther share in he global energy marke is for now: ute sal “Te mast promising news atematves for fort fuels seem tobe: dimetiy ee, hedrogen. Fscher Towpath juts, Growing interest ix carrey obverved ao inthe fll of fuel oxygenate. such as: ales. dimethst iute und etter: Their eddton to conventionol or reforlated futs es pasive salaence cm cee tenance and emvesions he paper review of mewelteratve ful fel composents or Cees ls been peste inctulne pnseoehemicl properties these ft. wntrven ad techvolegicel aspects of proton. a (Seif ronda RAD Wonk and application |. Introduction ‘Tronds © set restrictions on toxic components and greenhouse gases emissions, ‘observed currently, cause that standards referring exhaust emission from vehicles are more tnd! snore rigorous, In such a situation the fuel lubricant and additive industries are forced 10 Tooking for new products to meet new specifications. This ean be achieved by reformulation cf existing fuels or by introducing alternative fuels. Interest in alternative fuels is also a result ‘of eoncems over consumption of the primary energy sources that are limited. “The term “alternative fuels” refers to such energy carriers that are not of crude oil origin. have respectively high heating value and their combustion causes lower (in comparison wit conventional fuels) pollution of the natural environment. Many alternative fuels have been applied co combustion engines for many years, e.g. liquefied petroleum gus. compressed and Tiguefied natural gas, biodiesel, alcohols. However, researchers are still carrying on investigations on new energy carriers. The obtained results in many cases appear to be promising. Some of new alternative fuels can be direetly applied, as neat fuels: other can he used ts fuel components. One of important advantages of these fuels is diversification of its souees, More widespread use of new altemative fuels needs resolving many problems relating to production, distribution and application (e.g, cost effectiveness, on-board storage, distribution infrastructure, safety of use). Acceptance of users plays also an important role. ‘The aim of this paper i8 to characterise new alternative fuels from the point of their sources, properties, methods of production and application fo LC. engines. 2. Fuels 2.1. Dimethyl ether Dimethyl ether (DME) [1,2] is one of the simplest ether compounds and is widely used as propellant for aerosols. DME is a gas at ambient temperature and pressure but st can be Jiquefied under tow pressures (0.5 MPa at 25%C). It can be produced from natural yas 358{uehydrogenation of methanol) or from biomass (gasification). It is non-toxie, non-corrosive tnd non-eweinogenic and in the ease of leakage it decomposes very rapidly in the ftmosphere. From an ecological point of view, DME ean also be a good fuel for C., engines because it bums easily and produces low emissions. I¢has a high cetane number of about 60, DME lubricity properties are poor because of its very low viscosity (about 1/30 of that of diesel fuel) and to avoid the premature injection equipment wear, introduction of lubricity ‘additives is needed, The main physical and chemical properties of DME compared with diese] fuel are shown in Table 1. Table 1. Physica and chencol properties of DME anise uel [1 [Propemes DME [Distt [General formula an.oci | Gi, Molecular weight pe 46.07 190.290 [Carbon content, muss 322 86 Hydrogen content, mas 13 is /Oxyaun content, muss Ma o Density in the lguid state, em 0.668 sa Kinematic viscosity a! 40°C, mis 5, 20-45 Boling point." 249 139-360, Autoignition point. "© 235 250 Heaung value, MIE 28.43 as Heat of vaporization. KS 410 250. Stoichiometeic ato. kg 3.0 146. ‘Cetane number 350 0.55 Neat DMB is good fuet for C1. engines because engin fueled with it shows excellent combustion characteristics reung in low eminsions [4], Due to that it was considered io be promising fuel for CAL engines for 21" century [1, 2}. Moreover. engine after some Invalcations. exhibits higher thermal ffiiency than Cl. engine fuelled with diesel fel — Fig. |. DME engine has also reduced simulaneously NO, and smoke, though normal C.. ‘engine exhibits trade-off between NO, and smoke [5]. Especially good results were obtained ‘with application DME and EGR 10 C3. engine (61. In & normal C.L engine application of EGR lin order to reduce NO,) reslts in decrease of thermal efficiency and increase of CO. HC and smoke emissions, in DME fuelled engine NO, decreases linearly with EGR ratio ~ ie. 2 while thermal efficiency and smoke level rather do not depend on EGR ratio ~ Fig. 3 and Fig 4. Emissions of CO and HC inerese a lite with inerease of EGR rato, but remain sill very low compared with that of CL. engine [6] 23 4 6 6 Te 8 Oe Engine power, kW ig Comparisan of ternal efceney of DME engine ed desl fuel engine for engine sped n= 1800 pn 6] © DME fuel A. - diesel fuel 359)n= 1600 din EMEP = 0.5 MPa 0m) NOx Emissions & se Ratio of EGR (%) Fig, 2, NO, emissions fron CA engine wih EGR vs. EGR ratio 7) ef a= 1600 min oa BMEP = 0.5 MPa ost | oC SC Ratio of EGR (%) Fig, 8 Ther efcioncrof CL engine wih EGR vs. EGR ratio 7 i a 0 in | eer 0 Pe wo 5 7 25 Ratio of EGR (%) Fig 4. Sooke emissions fom C1 engine wil EGR vr, BGR rai [7 DME may be obtained on-board vehicle with the use of methanol conversion [7] Disaclvantage of methanol is its poor ignition behaviour. This disadvantage may be overcome by conversion methanol 0 DME according to the reaction: 3602. CHOH + CH,OCHy + H:0 nd fumigation of it © C.L engine. The most promising due to the effectiveness and cost was catalyst 7-Al:Os [71 ‘At ambient temperature and pressure DME is @ gas. and therefore it must be introdu ino the engine cylinder by Fumigation in the air on the vehicle, Fumigation of DME (by ‘.) improves ignition behaviour of methanol. which i still a main fuel to C.l. engine. Methanol burner on the vehicle was a heat source for star up [7]. In DME. fueiled engine \apour lock may appeae. In order to eliminate this, the fuel system supply pump, regulator ind buffer can be added [5] Sutomning up, fuelling C1. engine with DME results in: Simultaneous reduction of NO, and smoke, = linear reduction of NO, with increase of EGR ratio, slightly increase of CO and HC emissions but remain still ata low level, = improvement of ignition behaviour of methanol fuelled C.l. engine (fumigation of DME), = total deficiency of sulphur in exhaust gases. At present DME is a fuel for experimental Volvo city bus (8]. DME is carried at 5 bar pressure in five tanks, what enables the same range as 267 dm3 of diesel fuel. The DME tenzine fulfils Euro 4 emission test (Table 2), Table 2. DME = Volvo engine emission 18] Pollutant DME engine ‘Euro 4 mit NO, 3.0 35 PM 0.002 0.002 THC 012 0.46 co 025 Ts 2,2, Fischer-Tropsch fuels (GTI fuels) “The Fischer-Tropsch process, developed in 1920°s, is used to obtain hydrocarbons from synthetic gas (a mixture of CO and Hs) in the presence of catalyst, at high pressure and ‘nyperature. The basic mechanism of this process is as follows: 2nHls + nCO = a(— CH } + nF:O whore —CHs- represents basie building block of the paraffin molecule. "The product spectrum can be controlled by the choice of the catalyst, process ‘configuration and operating conditions. Generally, higher temperatures (> 320"C) and iron hased eatalyst favour the production of lighter hydrocarbons suitable for gasoline production. ‘while cobalt based catalyst and lower process temperatures (<250°C) tend to produce ppaalfins in the diesel range. Obtained hydrocarbons are subsequently refined into fuels. Germans used this method during the Second World War to supply their army with fuels and as well as in South Africa dusing the apartheid era. Synthetic gas can be produced from coal ‘und biomass but natural gas is expected to be the primary feedstock. Converting natural gas to aliquid through a Fischer-Tropsch technology provides an opportunity to expand the use of hatural gas and lower the transportation cost (natural gas is four times more expensive to transport than oil) from remote sources of low-cost gas. 361Fuels obtained in this way are called P-T fuels or GTL fuels because of the gas-to-iguid nature of the process. For diesel fuel the term FTD (Fischer-Tropsch Diesel) is commonly used. FID has very good properties as a fuel for C.L engines: exclusive paraffinic ‘composition with predominating linear or lightly-branched chains. high cetane number, cloud point below -10C, extremely low sulphur, aromatics and toxics content. Limited ‘experimental data suggest higher rates of biodegradation for F-T fuels relative to conventional 19]. Typical properties of Fischer-Tropsch diesel are given in Table 3. Table 3. Typical properties of Fischer-Tropach diesel in comparison to conventional fuel {10 “Typical No. High TTD. Pope ect” | ETF | geasa cobs High heating value, MOT Bie Fae 4S Density at IC. pen Disses [076950 7005 | 0.8007 0 Sa Distillation, "C 1a ie 139310 230 SU 283 244-300 25d WEE 32 327-334 23, EBP 3a 38.355 361 [cetane number Ho, >It =50 Sulfur conten, Ppa 300 CHy- OCOO- Cty + HO Dimethyl carbonate has similar properties as diesel fuel and is added to it (6) or umigated with inlet air [14] in order to improve diesel engine combustion characteristics resulting in decrease of smoke and CO emissions. There is linear dependence of smoke level and DMC addition: smoke will be reduced by 20% for every 10% of DMC added. The influence of the content of DMC in DF and DMC blend on smoke and CO emission is shown in Fig, § and Fig, 6. Also slight improvement of thermal efficiency and simultaneous increase ‘of NOs emission was observed. ~ Fig. 7. ‘ 1600 ri - eMEP = 0.68 MPa a 8 ~ 4 g Boa § a o 2 « 6 8 © 2 4 ‘Oxygen mass percent infuel blend (%) Fig 5. Souk as feton ofthe wsrgen coment in DMC ad DF blend (7 3652500 ~ n= 1600 rimin E 20009. BMEP = 0.66 MPa ~ 48% ° , oO i 5 ° 1000 & 500 8 ° __. ° 5 10 15 20 2 DMC mass percent in fuel (%) ig 6.CO emissions rom Cl. engine v2 DMC mess fraction in DMC and DF Blend [7] 4909 = 1200 e = a ae 900 ~~ 2 n= 1600 r/min 2 600 BMEP = 0.66 MPa & g 8 10 15 20 25 DMC mass percent in fuel ( %) Fig, 7.NO, emissions fom Ci engine vs. DMC nas ration in DNIC an DF blend {71 Emission characteristics result from combustion characteristics of DMC and DF blends = With addition of DMC premixed (kinetic) combustion phase is prolonged, while mixing controlled diffusive combustion phase is shortened The maximum eylinder gas pressure, rate of pressure rise, rate of heat release and the fraction of Fuel burned increase with addition of DMC in the fuel, especially at high load. At low load the influence of DMC addition is less visible ip. DMC addition to diesel fuel: reduces smoke and CO emissions, = improves slightly thermal efficiency, increases NO, emissions. Summa 3667. Summing up and conclusions Using alternative fuels is inevitable from two main reasons: economical (limited crude ‘il resources) and ecological (necessity to limit exhaust gas emission). The whole world has to increase a share of alternative fuels in the fuel-energetic balance sheet. First of all. very important for 21° century will be to secure sustainable urban transportation based 00 aitemative fuels, During the last years a number of organisations have been actively engaged i the development of new alternatives for vehicle application, The review shows that very promising for 21" century are such fuels as: dimethyl ether, Fischer-Tropsch fuels, hydrogen as well as fuel additives, e.g. dimethyt carbonate or ethers. Most of new alternative fuels ean be produced from natural gas or biomass. From this group hyclrogen (called also “a fuel of the future”) is the most promising alternative but a lol of rescareh has to be done to solve technical and technological problems connected with its application, Fischer-Tropsch fuels, in turn, seem to have the greatest chance 10 be applied soon because of very advanced development in their technology. Progress in the field of altemative fuels is very often limited by high costs of their proshiction and distribution. At present, they cannot be produced at competitive prices relative to conventional fuels, OF course, widespread use of them has to be preceded by profound ecological, economical and technical analysis of the entire life eyele and comparison with tional fuels. References LI] Sorenson S.C. Performance and emissions of @ 0.273 litre direct injection engine fuelled with ncat dimethyl ether. SAE Paper 950064, 1995, [2] Fleish TLE, Meurer Pi: DME the diesel fuel for 21st century? 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