Alcohol fuel

About: Alcohol fuel is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2030 publications have been published within this topic receiving 42757 citations.

State-of-the-art report on the use of alcohols in diesel engines

Abstract: The concept of using alcohol fuels as alternatives to diesel fuel in diesel engines is a recent one. The scarcity of transportation petroleum fuels which developed in the early 1970's spurred many efforts to find alternatives. Alcohols were quickly recognized as prime candidates to displace or replace high octane petroleum fuels. However, alternatives to the large demand for diesel fuel in many countries were not as evident. Innovative thinking led to various techniques by which alcohol fuels can partially or completely displace diesel fuel in diesel transportation vehicles. The methods of using alcohol fuels in diesel engines (in order of increasing diesel fuel displacement) include solutions, emulsions, fumigation, dual injection, spark ignition, and ignition improvers.

Hybrid electric vehicle

Abstract: A hybrid electric vehicle which is driven by a motor (7) powered with electric power generated by an engine (1), wherein the cylinder, piston, and sub-combustion chamber of the engine have insulation structure so that heat sufficient for evaporating fed fuel is held in the sub-combustion chamber. The sub-combustion chamber having a central communicating orifice is formed on the central portion of the piston head, a fuel collision table is formed in the sub-combustion chamber, and a plurality of radial communicating orifices for jetting flame from the sub-combustion chamber against the cylinder is provided, the burning is easy even with using a low pressure fuel injection mechanism, therefore a solenoid valve type injection pump with simple structure is used, the burning is smooth with using alcohol fuel such as methanol and ethanol, the fuel injection timing is adjusted dependently on load to the optimal timing, the number of working cylinders is controlled so as to match to the load, the control allows the engine to operate at the optimal fuel consumption, therefore emission of hazardous substance contained in exhaust gas is minimized. The engine of the present invention needs no cooling mechanism, and also needs no heavy gear box and no clutch mechanism, the weight of the whole vehicle is significantly reduced comparing with conventional vehicles, the fuel consumption is reduced also in terms of the light weight.

Nanocatalysts for Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Ethanol.

Abstract: The use of ethanol as a fuel in direct alcohol fuel cells depends not only on its ease of production from renewable sources, but also on overcoming the challenges of storage and transportation. In an ethanol-based fuel cell, highly active electrocatalysts are required to break the C-C bond in ethanol for its complete oxidation at lower overpotentials, with the aim of increasing the cell performance, ethanol conversion rates, and fuel efficiency. In recent decades, the development of wet-chemistry methods has stimulated research into catalyst design, reactivity tailoring, and mechanistic investigations, and thus, created great opportunities to achieve efficient oxidation of ethanol. In this Minireview, the nanomaterials tested as electrocatalysts for the ethanol oxidation reaction in acid or alkaline environments are summarized. The focus is mainly on nanomaterials synthesized by using wet-chemistry methods, with particular attention on the relationship between the chemical and physical characteristics of the catalysts, for example, catalyst composition, morphology, structure, degree of alloying, presence of oxides or supports, and their activity for ethanol electro-oxidation. As potential alternatives to noble metals, non-noble-metal catalysts for ethanol oxidation are also briefly reviewed. Insights into further enhancing the catalytic performance through the design of efficient electrocatalysts are also provided.