Fuel Injection and Spray Research

Alternative Fuel Sprays

Non-petroleum fuels are gaining popularity in the U.S. Ethanol is being blended with gasoline in varying proportions, and biodiesel is being sold at pumps across the country. Other possible fuels such as butanol are being explored. These fuels can reduce the U.S.’s dependence on petroleum, and additional research is needed to understand their effects on engine performance and emissions.

The physical properties of these alternative fuels can vary dramatically from those of petroleum fuels. Ethanol has significantly less energy per gallon than gasoline, and biodiesel has a much higher viscosity than diesel. Changes such as these require the engine to adapt to the fuel in ways that have not previously been necessary. These changes also fundamentally alter the operation of fuel injectors and the structure of spray in ways that are not well understood. These uncertainties prevent the adoption of new, clean combustion strategies in both gasoline and diesel engines.

Argonne researchers are studying the fuel injection process using alternative fuels such as biodiesel, vegetable oils, pyrolysis oil, ethanol and butanol, with the goal of understanding how changes in fuel properties affect the spray, combustion, and ultimately, the operation of the engine.

Argonne’s experiments have discovered structural differences between sprays of conventional fuels and biodiesel, revealing that biodiesel sprays require more time to atomize and produce more compact sprays with higher density.

Funding

This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Program under Gurpreet Singh.

April 2010