BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
AND SCIENCE, PILANI
Types of Fuels
Alternative Fuels and Performance of
Alternative Fuels
Lecture No. 8, 9 and 10
Dr. Ravi Inder Singh
Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering
Email id: [email protected]
[email protected]
CONVENTIONAL FUELS
Fuels
Solid Fuels
Gaseous Fuels
Liquid Fuels
Chemical Structure of Petroleum
Paraffin [Cn H2n+
n+2 ]
Olefin [Cn H2n ]
Naphthalene [Cn H2n ]
Aromatic series [Cn H2n-6 ]
Petroleum Refining Process
Crude petroleum as obtained from oil wells contains gases
and certain impurities such as water, solids etc. The crude
oil is separated into gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil etc. by the
process of fractional distillation. This process is based on
the fact that the boiling points of various hydrocarbons
increase with increase in molecular weight.
Thermal Cracking
Catalytic Cracking
Important Qualities of SI Engine Fuels
Volatility
Starting and Warm up
Operating Range Performance
Crankcase Dilution
Vapor Lock Characteristics
Antiknock Quality
Gum Deposits
Sulphur Content
CI Engine Fuels
Knock Characteristics
Volatility
Starting Characteristics
Smoking and Odor
Viscosity
Corrosion and Wear
Handling Ease
Alternate fuels
Solid fuels
Liquid fuels
Alcohol
Methanol
Ethanol
Alcohol for SI Engines
Reformulated Gasoline for SI Engine
Water Gasoline Mixture for SI Engines
Alcohol for CI Engines
Alcohol
Advantages
It can be obtained from a number of sources, both natural and
manufactured.
It is a high octane fuel with anti knock index numbers.
It produces less overall emissions compared to gasoline.
Alcohols have low suphur content in the fuel.
Disadvantages
Alcohols have a low energy content or in other words the calorific
value of the fuel is almost itself.
Produces more aldehydes.
Corrosive
Alcohols fuelled engines
has poor cold weather starting
characteristic due to low vapor pressure and evaporation.
Alcohols have poor ignition characteristics in general.
Alcohols have almost invisible flames, which is considered
dangerous when handling fuel.
Spark Assisted Diesel
Alcohols and coal derived fuel will also
penetrate as alternative fuels.
Low cetane number
number
Ignition
problem
Vegetable Oil
High kinematic viscosity
High rate of wear and failure in fuel
pumps
Biodiesel
Biodiesel is a general name for methyl esters from
organic feedstock.
Biodiesel can be made from a wide range of vegetable
oils:
rapeseed the most common one
sunflower
palm oil
soy
recycled cooking oils
Germany and France are the largest EU producers
BIODIESEL AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Use of 100% biodiesel would reduce lifecycle CO2 emissions by 40 to 50%.
But, this is not common
Use of 5% blend reduces CO2 emissions by 2
to 2.5%.
Biodiesel is biodegradable
Bioethanol
A 5% blend of Bio ethanol does not require
vehicle modifications, nor affects manufacturers
warranty.
Substitute for MTBE (Methyl
Methyl tertiary butyl
ether) in petrol (octane enhancer)
Flexible
Flexible Fuelled Vehicles, FFV, can use higher
concentrations of bio ethanol
Ford, Volvo and Saab sell FFV (blend of 85%
bio ethanol and 15% petrol)
petrol
Gaseous Fuels
Hydrogen is another alternative fuel tried for IC
Engines.
the "forever fuel" that we can never run out of
Water + energy
Hydrogen + oxygen
hydrogen + oxygen
water + energy
Major
Components
of a
Compressed
Natural Gas
System
What is LPG an LPG Engines?
Auto LPG or Liquefied Petroleum Gas is a generic
name for mixtures of hydrocarbons (mainly propane
and butane) which exists as vapor under ambient
conditions and can be changed into liquid state by
applying moderate pressures.
pressures
Energy content similar to gasoline
Inherently clean burning characteristics
BIO GAS IN AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE
Biogas is produced by means of a process known as anaerobic
digestion. It is a process whereby organic matter is broken down by
microbiological activity and, as the name suggests, it is a process
air It is a phenomenon that occurs
which takes place in the absence of air.
naturally at the bottom of ponds and marshes and gives rise to marsh
gas or methane, which is a combustible gas.
Methane
CH4
5075
Carbon dioxide
CO2
2550
Nitrogen
N2
010
Hydrogen
H2
01
Hydrogen sulphide
H2S
03
Oxygen
O2
00
Producer Gas
Blast Furnace Gas
Coke Oven Gas
Benzol
PERFORMANCE OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES
Testing could be done for different fuels.
Fully functional characteristics are still
unknown for many fuel.
Bio diesel, bio ethanol, hydrogen etc. have
fully developed characteristics of IC engines.
Long life effects are still unknown.
Commercial establishment of IC engines
for some fuels is fully functional.
Thank You
