Alcohol fuel

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

Methanol production from biomass and natural gas as transportation fuel

Abstract: Two processes are examined for production of methanol. They are assessed against the essential requirements of a future alternative fuel for road transport: that it (i) is producible in amounts comparable to the 19 EJ of motor fuel annually consumed in the U.S., (ii) minimizes emissions of criteria pollutants, (iii) reduces greenhouse gas emissions from production and use, (iv) is cost-competitive with petroleum fuel, and (v) is compatible with the emerging vehicle technologies, especially those powered by fuel cells. The methanol yield, production cost, and potential for reduction of overall fuel-cycle CO2 emissions were evaluated and compared to those of reformulated gasoline. The results show that a process utilizing natural gas and biomass as cofeedstocks can meet the five requirements more effectivly than individual processes utilizing those feedstocks separately. When end-use efficiencies are accounted for, the cost per vehicle mile traveled would be less than that of gasoline used in current vehic...

Biobutanol as fuel for direct alcohol fuel cells - Investigation of Sn-modified Pt catalyst for butanol electro-oxidation

Abstract: Direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) mostly use low molecular weight alcohols such as methanol and ethanol as fuels. However, short-chain alcohol molecules have a relative high membrane crossover rate in DAFCs and a low energy density. Long chain alcohols such as butanol have a higher energy density, as well as a lower membrane crossover rate compared to methanol and ethanol. Although a significant number of studies have been dedicated to low molecular weight alcohols in DAFCs, very few studies are available for longer chain alcohols such as butanol. A significant development in the production of biobutanol and its proposed application as an alternative fuel to gasoline in the past decade makes butanol an interesting candidate fuel for fuel cells. Different butanol isomers were compared in this study on various Pt and PtSn bimetallic catalysts for their electro-oxidation activities in acidic media. Clear distinctive behaviors were observed for each of the different butanol isomers using cyclic voltammetry (CV), indicating a difference in activity and the mechanism of oxidation. The voltammograms of both n-butanol and iso-butanol showed similar characteristic features, indicating a similar reaction mechanism, whereas 2-butanol showed completely different features; for example, it did not show any indication of poisoning. Ter-butanol was found to be inactive for oxidation on Pt. In situ FTIR and CV analysis showed that OHads was essential for the oxidation of primary butanol isomers which only forms at high potentials on Pt. In order to enhance the water oxidation and produce OHads at lower potentials, Pt was modified by the oxophilic metal Sn and the bimetallic PtSn was studied for the oxidation of butanol isomers. A significant enhancement in the oxidation of the 1° butanol isomers was observed on addition of Sn to the Pt, resulting in an oxidation peak at a potential ∼520 mV lower than that found on pure Pt. The higher activity of PtSn was attributed to the bifunctional mechanism on PtSn catalyst. The positive influence of Sn was also confirmed in the PtSn nanoparticle catalyst prepared by the modification of commercial Pt/C nanoparticle and a higher activity was observed for PtSn (3:1) composition. The temperature-dependent data showed that the activation energy for butanol oxidation reaction over PtSn/C is lower than that over Pt/C.

Technical Note: Combustion characteristics and hydrocarbon emissions of a spark ignition engine fuelled with gasoline-oxygenate blends

Abstract: Combustion characteristics and hydrocarbon emissions in a spark ignition engine operating on oxygenated fuel blends are studied, and the mass fraction burned and engine hydrocarbon emissions are analysed. Calculation results, based on the recorded pressure diagram, show that the flame development and rapid burn angles of gasoline-ether blends generally decrease and the maximum cylinder pressure increases as compared with those of gasoline. The flame development angle and rapid burn angle decrease when the fraction of alcohol fuels in gasoline is small, whereas they increase when the fraction of alcohol fuels is large. The experimental results show that engine exhaust hydrocarbon emissions can be reduced by blending oxygenated fuels in gasoline rather than operating on neat gasoline. Operating on gasoline-ether blends rather than on gasoline-alcohol fuel blends and neat gasoline greatly reduces hydrocarbon emissions. (A)