ME 430 Internal Combustion Engines

Engineering Fundamentals of Internal

Combustion Engines

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih AKTAŞ

Gazi University
Department of Mechanical Engineering

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 ME 430 Internal Combustion Engines

Lecture Notes for the Undergraduate Course

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih AKTAŞ

Gazi University
Department of Mechanical Engineering
2023-2024 Spring

fatihaktas@[Link]
Office : 454

[Link]

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ME 430 – Internal Combustion Engines

Chapter 4
Thermochemistry and
Fuels

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih AKTAŞ

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Copyright © Gazi University, Permission required for reproduction or display.
CONTENTS

• Thermochemistry
• Hydrocarbon Fuels - Gasoline
• Some Common Hydrocarbon Components
• Self-Ignition and Octane Number
• Diesel Fuel
• Alternate Fuels
• Summary

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
Thermochemistry of combustion deals with the composition and
thermodynamic properties of pre and post-combustion gases
(e.g., in IC engines)

Combustion Reactions

• IC engines get power by burning hydrocarbon fuels with air, turning

chemical energy into internal energy.

• Different fuels exist, but all primarily contain hydrogen and carbon.
Some may have oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur.

• Maximum energy release happens during stoichiometric

combustion.
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THERMOCHEMISTRY

• This means using just enough oxygen to convert all carbon in the
fuel to CO2 and all hydrogen to H2O.

• Example: With methane (CH4), the balanced equation shows how

this works:

• If isooctane is the fuel component, the balanced stoichiometric

combustion with oxygen would be:
C8H18 + 12.5O2 ~ 8CO2 +9H2O

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
• Molecules react with molecules, so in balancing a chemical
equation, molar quantities (fixed number of molecules) are used
and not mass quantities.
• One kgmole of a substance has a mass in kilograms equal in
number to the molecular weight (molar mass) of that substance.
m=NM

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
• The components on the left side of a chemical reaction equation that
are present before the reaction are called reactants, while the
components on the right side of the equation that are present after
the reaction are called products or exhaust.

• Very small powerful engines could be built if fuel were burned with
pure oxygen. However, the cost of using pure oxygen would be
prohibitive, and thus is not done. Air is used as the source of oxygen
to react with fuel. Atmospheric air is made up of about:

– Nitrogen – 78.09% by vol. (or mole), 73% by mass; Oxygen – 20.95% by vol. (or mole),
27% by mass, Argon – 0.93% by vol. (or mole), trace amounts of CO2 (~0.03% by vol. or
mole), neon, helium, methane, etc.
– Usually sufficient to regard air as consisting of 21% O2 and 79% N2 on a molar basis
– So, for each mole of O2 in air, we have (79/21) or 3.76 moles of N2

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
Stoichiometric combustion of methane with air then:
CH4 + 2O2 + 2(3.76)N2 ~ CO2 + 2H2O + 2(3.76)N2

and of isooctane with air is:

C8H18 + 12.5O2 + 12.5(3.76)N2 ~ 8CO2 + 9H2O + 12.5(3.76)N2

amount of fuel. If methane is burned with 150% stoichiometric air, the

excess oxygen ends up in the products:
CH4 + 3O2 + 3(3.76)N2 ~ CO2 + 2H2O + 3(3.76)N2+ O2

If isooctane is burned with 80% stoichiometric air, there is not enough

oxygen to convert all the carbon to CO2, and CO is found in the
products:
C8H18 + 10O2 + 10(3.76)N2 ~ 3CO2 + 9H2O + 5CO+ 10(3.76)N2
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10
THERMOCHEMISTRY
• Carbon monoxide is a colorless, poisonous gas that can be further
burned to form CO2.

• It is formed in any combustion process when there is a deficiency

of oxygen.

• It is also very likely that some of the fuel will not get burned when
there is a deficiency of oxygen

• This unburned fuel ends up as pollution in the exhaust of the engine

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
Various terminology is used for the amount of air or oxygen used in
combustion:

• 80% stoichiometric air = 80% theoretical air = 80% air = 20%

deficiency of air

• 133% stoichiometric oxygen = 133% theoretical oxygen = 133%

oxygen = 33% excess oxygen

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
For actual combustion in an engine, the equivalence ratio is a
measure of the fuel-air mixture relative to stoichiometric conditions. It is
defined as:
Φ=(FA)act/(FA)stoich=(AF)stoich/(AF)act

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
Chemical Equilibrium

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 THERMOCHEMISTRY
• Ke (equilibrium constant) is heavily affected by temperature. In IC
engines, this changes drastically.
• As Ke increases, reactions favor products (like CO2 and H2O). This
aligns with the concept of maximizing entropy.
• In high-temperature engines, combustion is nearly complete.
However, other chemical reactions now come into play, affecting
exhaust gases.
• Cause normally stable molecules like CO2, O2, and N2 to break
apart (dissociate).
• This dissociation, especially for nitrogen (N2), leads to the formation
of harmful pollutants called nitrogen oxides (NOx).
• To reduce NOx emissions, engine temperatures are lowered, but
this decreases engine efficiency.

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
• Products of combustion are not a simple mixture of ideal products

• We used ideal products approach to determine stoichiometry

• Ideal combustion products for a hydrocarbon fuel is

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
Examp: Isooctane is burned with 120% theoretical air in a small three-
cylinder turbocharged automobile engine.
Calculate:
1. air-fuel ratio
2. fuel-air ratio
3. equivalence ratio

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
• Even when the flow of air and fuel into an engine is controlled
exactly at stoichiometric conditions, combustion will not be
"perfect," and components other than CO2, H2O, and N2 are found
in the exhaust products. One major reason for this is the extremely
short time available for each engine cycle, which often means that
less than complete mixing of the air and fuel is obtained. Some fuel
molecules do not find an oxygen molecule to react with, and small
quantities of both fuel and oxygen end up in the exhaust.

• SI engines have a combustion efficiency in the range of 95% to

98% for lean mixtures and lower values for rich mixtures, where
there is not enough air to react all the fuel. CI engines operate lean
overall and typically have combustion efficiencies of about 98%.

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THERMOCHEMISTRY

Combustion efficiency as a function of fuel equivalence ratio

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 THERMOCHEMISTRY
Exhaust Dew Point Temperature

• When exhaust gases of an IC engine

are cooled below their dew point
temperature, water vapor in the exhaust
starts to condense to liquid. It is
common to see water droplets come out
of an automobile exhaust pipe when the
engine is first started and the pipe is
cold.

• Very quickly the pipe is heated above the dew point temperature,
and condensing water is then seen only as vapor when the hot
exhaust is cooled by the surrounding air, much more noticeable in
the cold wintertime.

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
Combustion Temperature
Heat liberated by the combustion reaction of a hydrocarbon fuel with air
is the difference between the total enthalpy of the products and the total
enthalpy of the reactants. This is called heat of reaction, heat of
combustion, or enthalpy of reaction and is given by:

Ni= number of moles of component i

hi= ℎ𝑓𝑓𝑜 i + Δhi
ℎ𝑓𝑓𝑜 =enthalpy of formation, the enthalpy needed to form one mole of
that component at standard conditions of 25℃ and 1 atm
Δhi=change of enthalpy from standard temperature for component i
Q will be negative, meaning that heat is given up by the reacting gases. Values of ℎ𝑓𝑓𝑜 and Δh are molar specific quantities and can be found in
most thermodynamic text books.

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THERMOCHEMISTRY

Heat into the engine for conversion to output work can be given as:

An estimation of the maximum possible temperature that could be

reached in an IC engine can be obtained by calculating the adiabatic
flame temperature of the input air–fuel mixture. This is done by using
setting Q=0 yielding

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Contour view of the RCCI engine’s in cylinder temperature distribution
Part of the Phd. Thesis of F. Aktas 23
THERMOCHEMISTRY

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THERMOCHEMISTRY
Engine Exhaust Analysis
It is common practice to analyze the
exhaust of an IC engine. The control
system of a modern smart automobile
engine includes sensors that
continuously monitor the exhaust
leaving the engine. These sensors
continuously monitor the exhaust
leaving the engine. These sensors
determine the chemical composition of
the hot exhaust by various chemical,
electronic, and thermal methods. This
information, along with information from
other sensors, is used by the engine
management system (EMS) to regulate
the operation of the engine by
controlling the air-fuel ratio, ignition
timing, inlet tuning, valve timing, etc.

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 Repair shops and highway check stations also
routinely analyze automobile exhaust to
determine operating conditions and/or
emissions. This is done by taking a sample of
the exhaust gases and running it through an
external analyzer. When this is done, there is
a high probability that the exhaust gas will
cool below its dew point temperature before it
is fully analyzed, and the consending water
will change the composition of the exhaust.

To compensate for this, a dry analysis can be performed by first removing all water
vapor from exhaust, usually by some thermo-chemical means.

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THERMOCHEMISTRY

Calculate the equivalence ratio at which the engine is operating.

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HYDROCARBON FUELS-GASOLINE
• The main fuel for SI engines is gasoline, which is a mixture of many
hydrocarbon components and is manufactured from crude
petroleum.
• Crude oil was first discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859, and the fuel
product line generated from it developed along with the development
of the IC engine.
• Crude oil is made up almost entirely of carbon and hydrogen with
some traces of other species. It varies from 83% to 87% carbon and
11% to 14% hydrogen by weight.
• The carbon and hydrogen can combine in many ways and form
many different molecular compounds. One test of a crude oil sample
identified over 25 000 different hydrocarbon components.

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HYDROCARBON FUELS-GASOLINE
• The crude oil mixture which is taken from the ground is separated
into component products by cracking and/or distillation using thermal
or catalytic methods at an oil refinery.

• Cracking is the process of breaking large molecular components into

more useful components of smaller molecular weight.

• Preferential distillation is used to separate the mixtures into single

components or smaller ranges of components.

• Generally, the larger the molecular weight of a component, the

higher is its boiling temperature.

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HYDROCARBON FUELS-GASOLINE
• Low boiling temperature components (smaller molecular weights are
used for solvents and fuels (gasoline), while high boiling
temperature components with their large molecular weights are used
for tar and asphalt or returned to the refining process for further
cracking.

• The component mixture of the refining process is used for many

products, including:

- Automobile gasoline, diesel fuel, aircraft gasoline, jet engine, home

heating fuel, industrial heating fuel, natural gas, lubrication oil, asphalt,
alcohol, rubber, paint, plastics, explosives

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HYDROCARBON FUELS-GASOLINE
The components that vaporize at
low temperatures are called
front-end volatility components
and are useful for starting a cold
engine.

Those components that vaporize

at the highest temperatures are
called high-end volatility
components and increase
engine volumetric efficiency.

This gasoline could be classified

as 57-81-103°C. Fifty percent of
Temperature–vaporization curve for a typical the gasoline would be vaporized
gasoline mixture. at 81°C.

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SOME COMMON HYDROCARBON COMPONENTS
Carbon atoms form four bonds in molecular structures, while hydrogen
has one bond. A saturated hydrocarbon molecule will have no double or
triple carbon-to carbon bonds and will have a maximum number of
hydrogen atoms. An unsaturated molecule will have double or triple
carbon-to-carbon bonds.
• Alkanes (Paraffins) – CnH2n+2

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SOME COMMON HYDROCARBON COMPONENTS

Table 2 gives the prefixes used to identify paraffins and other hydrocarbon
families according to the number of carbon atoms in the main molecular
structure. The paraffin family, then, uses the suffix ane—thus methane,
propane, etc.

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SOME COMMON HYDROCARBON COMPONENTS
• Alkenes (Olefins) – CnH2n
The olefin family consists of chain molecules that contain one double carbon–
carbon bond, and are therefore unsaturated. The prefixes from Table 2 are used
with the suffix “ene.”The chemical makeup is Cn The following are examples of
olefins:

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SOME COMMON HYDROCARBON COMPONENTS
• Alkynes (acetylenes) – CnH2n-2

• Cycloalkanes (cycloparaffins)

Many variations of these

molecules are possible,
with one or more of the
attached hydrogen atoms
replaced with various side
radicals or chains.
Cycloparaffins make good
automobile gasoline
components.
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SOME COMMON HYDROCARBON COMPONENTS
• Aromatics – CnH2n-6

Aromatic molecules have an unsaturated ring structure with double carbon–

carbon bonds and a general chemical formula of the basic molecule in this
family is the benzene ring:

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SOME COMMON HYDROCARBON COMPONENTS
• Alcohols – CnH2n+1OH
Alcohols are similar to paraffins with one of the hydrogen atoms replaced with
the hydroxyl radical OH. The most common alcohols are:

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SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER
• If the temperature of an air-fuel mixture is raised high enough, the
mixture will self-ignite without the need of a spark plug or another
external igniter. The temperature above which this occurs is called
the self ignition temperature (SIT).
• This is the basic principle of ignition in a compression ignition
engine. The compression ratio is high enough so that the
temperature rises above SIT during the compression stroke. Self
ignition then occurs when fuel is injected into the combustion
chamber.
• On the other hand, self-ignition (or pre-ignition, or auto ignition) is
not desirable in an SI engine, where a spark plug is used to ignite
the air-fuel at the proper time in the cycle.

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SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER
• The compression ratios of gasoline-fueled SI engines are limited to
about 11:1 to avoid self-ignition.

• When self-ignition does occur in an SI engine higher than desirable,

pressure pulses are generated. These high-pressure pulses can
cause damage to the engine and quite often are in the audible
frequency range. This phenomenon is often called knock or ping.

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SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER

• If the temperature of a fuel is

raised above the self-ignition
temperature (SIT), the fuel will
spontaneously ignite after a short
ignition delay (ID) time.

• The higher above SIT the fuel is

heated, the shorter will be the ID.

• Ignition delay is generally on the

order of thousandths of a second.

Self-ignition characteristics of fuels. 40

SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER

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Comparison of in-cylinder mean pressure In-cylinder pressure-volume comparison
for experimental, 1-D, 3-D sector and 3-D for experimental, 1-D, 3-D sector and 3-D
full model full model

In-cylinder pressure indicator diagrams of the diesel engine

Part of the Phd. Thesis of F. Aktas
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 Flames
• A flame is a combustion reaction propagate
subsonically through space
• The existence of flame motion implies that the
reaction is confined to a zone which is small
in thickness compared to the engine
combustion chamber
• The reaction zone is usually called the flame
front

• Flames can be categorized as premixed and diffusion flame

• Flames also categorized as laminar and turbulent

• Flames also categorized by whether the flow is steady or unsteady

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 Flames in IC engines
• Homogeneous SI (gasoline) engines
- Premixed, turbulent, unsteady flame propagation
• Direct Injection Spark Ignition engines
- Partially premixed, turbulent, unsteady flame propagation
• Heterogeneous CI (diesel) engines
• Turbulent, non-premixed (diffusion) unsteady flame anchored away
from the injector nozzle during injection
• Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI)
- HCCI engines have volumetric autoignition, no flamefront
• End-gas knock in SI engines causes transition from a propagating
flame to a ‘detonation,’ which is a supersonic wave

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SI engine combustion chamber schematically visualized as a long hollow cylinder with the
spark plug located at the left end. (a) Mass of air–fuel is equally distributed as spark plug
is fired to start combustion. (b) As flame front moves across chamber, unburned mixture
in front of flame is compressed into smaller volume. (c) Flame front continues to
compress unburned mixture into smaller volume, which increases its temperature and
pressure. If compression raises temperature of end gas above SIT, self-ignition and
knock can occur.
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SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER
• Octane Number and Engine Knock
The fuel property that describes how well a fuel will or will not self-ignite
is called the octane number or just octane.
This is a numerical scale generated by comparing the self-ignition
characteristics of the fuel to that of standard fuels in a specific test
engine at specific operating conditions.
The two standard reference fuels used are isooctane (2,2,4
trimethylpentane), which is given the octane number (ON) of 100, and
n-heptane, which is given the ON of O.
The higher the octane number of a fuel, the less likely it will self-ignite.
Engines with low compression ratios can use fuels with lower octane
numbers, but high-compression engines must use high-octane fuel to
avoid self-ignition and knock.

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SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER

• MON: Motor Octane Number

• RON: Research Octane Number

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SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER
The following test procedure is used to find the ON of a fuel.
• The test engine is run at specified conditions using the fuel being
tested.

• Compression ratio is adjusted until a standard level of knock is

experienced.

• The test fuel is then replaced with a mixture of the two standard
fuels.

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SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER
• The intake system of the engine is designed such that the blend of
the two standard fuels can be varied to any percent from all
isooctane to all n-heptane.

• The blend of fuels is varied until the same knock characteristics are
observed as with the test fuel. The percent of isooctane in the fuel
blend is the ON given to the test fuel.

• For instance, a fuel that has the same knock characteristics as a

blend of 87% isooctane and 13% n-heptane would have an ON of
87.

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 SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER
On the fuel pumps at an automobile service station is found the anti-knock
index:

Operating conditions used to measure MON are more severe than those used to
measure RON. Some fuels, therefore, will have a RON greater than MON (see Table
2 of the Appendix).The difference between these is called fuel sensitivity:

Fuel sensitivity is a good measure of how sensitive knock characteristics of a fuel

will be to engine geometry. A low FS number will usually mean that knock
characteristics of that fuel are insensitive to engine geometry. FS numbers
generally range from 0 to 10.

Common octane numbers (anti-knock index) for gasoline fuels used in automobiles
range from 87 to 95, with higher values available for special high-performance
and racing engines. Reciprocating SI aircraft engines usually use low-lead fuels
with octane numbers in the 85 to 100 range.

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SELF-IGNITION AND OCTANE NUMBER

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 DIESEL FUEL
• Diesel fuel (diesel oil, fuel oil) is obtainable over a large range of molecular
weights and physical properties. Various methods are used to classify it,
some using numerical scales and some designating it for various uses.
• The greater the refining done on a sample of fuel, the lower is its
molecular weight, the lower is its viscosity, and the greater is its cost.
Numerical scales usually range from one (1) to five (5) or six (6), with
subcategories using alphabetical letters (e.g., A1, 2D, etc). The lowest
numbers have the lowest molecular weights and lowest viscosity. These
are the fuels typically used in CI engines.
• Higher-numbered fuels are used in residential heating units and industrial
furnaces. Fuels with the largest numbers are very viscous and can only be
used in large, massive heating units.
• Another method of classifying diesel fuel to be used in internal combustion
engines is to designate it for its intended use. These designations include
bus, truck, railroad, marine, and stationary fuel, going from lowest
molecular weight to highest.
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DIESEL FUEL
• For convenience, diesel fuels for IC engines can be divided into two
extreme categories.
• Light diesel fuel has a molecular weight of about 170 and can be
approximated by the chemical formula C12.3H22.2(see Table A-2).
• Heavy diesel fuel has a molecular weight of about 200 and can be
approximated as C14.6H24.8.
• Most diesel fuel used in engines will fit in this range. Light diesel fuel
will be less viscous and easier to pump, will generally inject into
smaller droplets, and will be more costly.
• Heavy diesel fuel can generally be used in larger engines with
higher injection pressures and heated intake systems.
• Often an automobile or light truck can use a less costly heavier fuel
in the summer, but must change to a lighter, less viscous fuel in cold
weather because of cold starting and fuel line pumping problems.

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DIESEL FUEL
• Cetane Number
In a compression ignition engine, self-ignition of the air-fuel mixture is a
necessity. The correct fuel must be chosen which will self-ignite at the
precise proper time in the engine cycle. It is therefore necessary to
have knowledge and control of the ignition delay time of the fuel. The
property that quantifies this is called the cetane number.
The larger the cetane number, the shorter the ID and the quicker the
fuel will self-ignite in the combustion chamber environment.
A low cetane number means the fuel will have a long ID. Like octane
number rating, cetane numbers are established by comparing the test
fuel to two standard reference fuels. The fuel component n-cetane
(hexadecane), C16H34,is given the cetane number value of 100, while
heptamethylnonane (HMN), C12H34,is given the value of 15. The
cetane number (CN) of other fuels is then obtained by comparing the ID
of that fuel to the ID of a mixture blend of the two reference fuels with

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DIESEL FUEL
• A special CI test engine is used which has the capability of having
the compression ratio changed as it operates.
• Fuel being rated is injected into the engine cylinder late in the
compression stroke at 13° bTDC.
• The compression ratio is then varied until combustion starts at TDC,
giving an ID of 13° of engine rotation.
• Without changing the compression ratio, the test fuel is replaced
with a blend of the two reference fuels.
• Using two fuel tanks and two flow controls, the blend of the fuels is
varied until combustion is again obtained at TDC, an ID of 13°.

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DIESEL FUEL
• The difficulty of this method, in addition to requiring a costly test
engine, is to be able to recognize the precise moment when
combustion starts. The very slow rise in pressure at the start of
combustion is very difficult to detect.
• The normal cetane number range for vehicle fuel is about 40 to 60.
For a given engine injection timing and rate, if the cetane number of
the fuel is low, the ignition delay will be too long. When this occurs,
more fuel than desirable will be injected into the cylinder before the
first fuel particles ignite, causing a very large, fast pressure rise at
the start of combustion. This results in low thermal efficiency and a
rough-running engine. Long ignition delay of fuels with cetane
numbers below 40 results in a very rich fuel–air mixture in the
cylinder when ignition finally occurs. This results in unacceptable
levels of exhaust smoke, and these fuels are illegal by many mission
laws. If the CN of the fuel is high, combustion will start too soon in
the cycle. Pressure will rise before TDC and more work will be
required in the compression stroke.
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DIESEL FUEL

57
DIESEL FUEL

58
ALTERNATE FUELS
• Sometime during the 21st century, crude oil and petroleum products
will become very scarce and costly to find and produce. At the same
time, there will likely be an increase in the number of automobiles
and other IC engines.

• Although fuel economy of engines is greatly improved from the past

and will probably continue to be improved, numbers alone dictate
that there will be a great demand for fuel in the coming decades.

• Gasoline will become scarce and costly. Alternate fuel technology,

availability, and use must and will become more common in the
coming decades.

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ALTERNATE FUELS
• Another reason motivating the development of alternate fuels for the
IC engine is concern over the emission problems of gasoline
engines.
• Combined with other air-polluting systems, the large number of
automobiles is a major contributor to the air quality problem of the
world.
• Vast improvements have been made in reducing emissions given off
by an automobile engine. If a 30% improvement is made over a
period of years and during the same time the number of automobiles
in the world increases by 30%, there is no net gain.
• Actually, the net improvement in cleaning up automobile exhaust
since the 1950s, when the problem became apparent, is over 95%.
• However, additional improvement is needed due to the ever-
increasing number of automobiles.

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ALTERNATE FUELS

• A third reason for alternate fuel development in the United States

and other industrialized countries is the fact that a large percentage
of crude oil must be imported from other countries which control the
larger oil fields. In recent years, up to a third of the United States
foreign trade deficit has been from the purchase of crude oil, tens of
billions of dollars.

61
ALTERNATE FUELS
• Most alternate fuels are very costly at present. This is often because
of the quantity used. Many of these fuels will cost much less if the
amount of their usage gets to the same order of magnitude as
gasoline. The cost of manufacturing, distribution, and marketing all
would be less.
• Another problem with alternate fuels is the lack of distribution points
(service stations) where the fuel is available to the public. The public
will be reluctant to purchase an automobile unless there is a large
scale network of service stations available where fuel for that
automobile can be purchased.
• On the other hand, it is difficult to justify building a network of these
service stations until there are enough automobiles to make them
profitable. Some cities are starting to make available a few
distribution points for some of these fuels, like propane, natural gas,
and methanol. The transfer from one major fuel type to another will
be a slow, costly, and sometimes painful process.
62
ALTERNATE FUELS
• Alcohol
Advantages of Alcohol
• Widely available: Obtainable from various natural and
manufactured sources.
• High-performance fuel: Increased efficiency and power due to high
octane rating and improved cooling.
• Cleaner burning: Generally reduced emissions compared to
gasoline.
• Low sulfur content: Environmentally beneficial.

63
ALTERNATE FUELS
Disadvantages of Alcohol Fuel :
• Lower efficiency: Requires nearly double the fuel for the same
power as gasoline, impacting range and logistics.
• Increased emissions: Higher aldehydes contribute to air pollution.
• Material incompatibility: Corrosive to engine components,
requiring specific materials or modifications.
• Poor cold-starting: Difficulty starting in cold weather, often
requiring gasoline blending.
• Safety concerns: Invisible flames, tank flammability, and odor pose
potential hazards.
• Environmental impact: NOX reduction is offset by longer catalyst
warm-up times.

64
ALTERNATE FUELS
• Methanol
• Promise and Challenges:
Methanol holds potential as a gasoline alternative, extensively tested in
various mixtures.
Flexible-fuel engines offer adaptability but require careful management
to ensure smooth operation.

• Sources and Availability:

Methanol can be sourced from diverse sources, including renewable
and fossil fuels.
Processing impacts price and environmental footprint, with readily
available M10 (10% methanol) offering minimal benefits.

65
ALTERNATE FUELS
• Emissions and Applications:
M85 (85% methanol) reduces hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide
emissions but increases NOx and formaldehyde.
Dual-fuel engines using methanol and diesel offer potential cost
benefits for specific applications, like those in developing countries.
• Key Points:
Methanol offers potential benefits but comes with technical and
environmental challenges.
Further research and development are needed to address its limitations
and unlock its full potential.

66
ALTERNATE FUELS
• Ethanol
Popularity and Applications:
Widely used globally, with Brazil leading in ethanol adoption (93%
ethanol vehicles in the early 1990s).
Available in the US as gasohol (10% ethanol) and E85 (85% ethanol).
Flexible-fuel vehicles are being developed to run on any gasoline-
ethanol blend.
Production and Challenges:
Produced from various sources like corn, sugar cane, and even
cellulose.
Current cost is high due to processing and potential food-fuel
competition.
Studies suggest energy consumption in production might negate
environmental benefits.
67
ALTERNATE FUELS
Emissions:
Lower hydrocarbon emissions compared to gasoline but higher than
methanol.
Key Points:
While widely used, ethanol faces challenges in cost, energy
consumption, and potential unintended consequences.
Continued research and development are crucial to address limitations
and ensure sustainability.

68
ALTERNATE FUELS
• Hydrogen
Advantages
1. Low emissions. Essentially no CO or HC in the exhaust as there is
no carbon in the fuel. Most exhaust would be H20 and N2.
2. Fuel availability. There are a number of different ways of making
hydrogen, including electrolysis of water.
3. Fuel leakage to environment is not a pollutant.
4. High energy content per volume when stored as a liquid. This
would give a large vehicle range for a given fuel tank capacity.

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ALTERNATE FUELS
Disadvantages
• 1. Heavy, bulky fuel storage, both in vehicle and at the service
station. Hydrogen can be stored either as a cryogenic liquid or as a
compressed gas. If stored as a liquid, it would have to be kept under
pressure at a very low temperature. This would require a thermally
super-insulated fuel tank. Storing in a gas phase would require a
heavy pressure vessel with limited capacity.
• 2. Difficult to refuel.
• 3. Poor engine volumetric efficiency. Any time a gaseous fuel is
used in an engine, the fuel will displace some of the inlet air and
poorer volumetric efficiency will result.
• 4. Fuel cost would be high at present-day technology and
availability.
• 5. High NOx emissions because of high flame temperature.
• 6. Can detonate.
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• HW #3
An automobile will use hydrogen as fuel. Design a fuel tank (i.e., a fuel
storage system for the vehicle) and a method to deliver the fuel from
the tank to the engine.
• Term Project short report will be submit

• Quiz #3 will be next week.

• HW#4
1. What factors affect ignition delay in compression ignition engines?
(Explain point by point with graphics)
2. How does knocking occur in compression ignition engines?

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Summary

• Thermochemistry
• Hydrocarbon Fuels - Gasoline
• Some Common Hydrocarbon Components
• Self-Ignition and Octane Number
• Diesel Fuel
• Alternate Fuels

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