Alternative Fuels

LNG,LPG,Hydrogen
 Alternative Fuels
• Propane or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
• Methane or compressed natural gas (CNG)
• Alcohol
• Alternative Fuels for CI Engine
• Hydrogen
• Important alternative fuels are methane or compressed
natural gas (CNG), propane or liquid petroleum gas (LPG),
alcohol, and hydrogen.
• As of the year 2000, the most commonly used alternative
fuel for vehicle is propane, followed by natural gas, and
alcohol.
• Alternative fuels are of interest since:
1. They can be refined from renewable
feedstock.
2. Their emission levels can be much lower
than those of gasoline and diesel engines.
3. In some country e.g. USA, Thailand, the
large percentage if crude oil must be
imported from other countries which control
the larger oil field.
• Although there have been always some IC
engines fuelled with non-gasoline or diesel oil
fuels, their numbers have been relatively small
for both economy and engineering reasons.
1. Cost of alternative fuel per unit of energy
delivered can be greater than gasoline or diesel
fuel.
2. The energy density of alternative fuels by
volume is less than gasoline or diesel fuel.
• Today the alternative fuelled engines can
be modified or retrofitted engines that were
originally designed for gasoline or diesel
fuelling. They are, therefore not the
optimum design for the other fuels.
• The extensive research are required.
However, The R&D is difficult to justify until
the fuels are accepted as viable for large
numbers of engines.
 Retrofitted Engines for Alternative Fuel

However, various operational requirements for

retrofitted engines need to be taken into account:
1. The different combustion characteristics of
alternative fuels require a change in the injection
and ignition timing.
2. Many alternative fuels, especially those in
gaseous form, have low lubrication, causing
increased wear of fuel components such as fuel
injectors and valves.
 Propane
• Propane (C3H8) is a saturated paraffinic
hydrocarbon. When blended with butane (C4H10)
or ethane (C2H6), it is designated as liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG).
• LPG is obtained as a by-product from:
1. The lighter hydrocarbon fractions produced
during the crude oil refining.
2. The heavier components of wellhead natural
gas.
• A common LPG blend is P92, which is 92%
propane and 8% butane.
• Recent testing has been done with different
propane-butane mixtures as a vehicle fuel
(20% butane/80% propane, 30/70 and 50/50).
The greater availability of butane makes this a
possible fuel in the future.
Butane is slightly lower octane number than
propane ( ≈ 92) but still higher than gasoline.
• In USA, there are a number of original
equipment manufacturer that currently sell
propane-fuelled vehicle, primary light and
medium duty fleet vehicles, such as pick-up
trucks and vans.
• Conversion kits are also available to convert
gasoline or diesel fuelled engine to bi-fuel
dedicated or duel fuel use.
• LPG is stored as a compressed liquid, from 9-
14 bar with zero evaporative emissions.
• LPG can be injected into the intake manifold,
into the ports, or directly into the cylinder.
• A pressure regulator controls the supply of
propane to the engine, and converts the liquid
propane to a gas through a throttling process.
 Propane
Comparison with Gasoline Fuelled
• Parameters are correspondingly reduced:
1 Fuel economy due to liquid propane has ¾ of
the energy density by volume of gasoline.
2 Volumetric efficiency due to the
displacement of about 5% – 10 % of the intake
air by the propane.
3 Power due to the loss of evaporative cooling
effect (i.e. the heat of vaporization of gasoline
helps to decrease the temperature of mixture,
producing the dense mixtures).
 Propane
Improving Engine Efficiency
• Development of liquid fuel injection systems
for LPG engines should provide better
performance and efficiency.
• Propane has an octane number of 112 (RON),
so it can raise the compression ratio.
• Propane requires about 5o spark advance at
lower engine speeds due to its relative low
flame speed.
 Natural Gas

• Natural Gas is a naturally occurring fuel

found in oil field.
• It is primarily composed of methane CH4
(60-98%) with small amounts of additional
compounds such as N2, CO2, ethane, propane.
• Methane is a greenhouse gas, with a global
warming potential ten times that of CO2.
 Natural Gas
• Natural gas fuelled vehicle (NGV) have been
used since the 1950s, and conversion kits are
available for both spark and compression
ignition engines.
• It is stored as compressed natural gas (CNG)
at pressure of 160-250 bar, as liquid natural
gas (LNG) at pressure of 0.7-2.1 bar and a
temperature around -160 oC.
 Natural Gas
• The storage pressure is about 20 times that of
propane.
• Like propane, natural gas is delivered to the
engine through a pressure regulator, either a
mixing valve located in the intake manifold, port
fuel injection at about 750 kPa, or direct
injection into the cylinder.
 Natural Gas
Bi-fuel engines
• Recent R&D work has included development
of bi-fuel vehicles that can be operated with
natural gas and gasoline or natural gas and
diesel.
• One advantage of a bifuel operation is that
the operating range of a vehicle is extended in
comparison with a dedicated natural gas.
Figure 3 Volvo S80 bi-fuel NGV and petrol fuel
vehicle.
 Natural Gas
Dedicated (Natural gas only) engines
• Natural gas can replace diesel fuel in heavy
duty engines with addition of spark ignition
system.
• A number of heavy duty diesel engine
manufacturer are also producing dedicated
natural gas heavy duty engine.
The natural gas fuelled engines are operating
lean with an equivalence ratio as 0.7. The
resulting lower in-cylinder temperature
reduce NOx.
 Natural Gas
Duel fuel engines
• Natural gas can also be used in CI engine if
diesel fuel is used as a pilot fuel or ignition,
since the auto ignition temp of methane is
540oC, compared to 260 oC for diesel fuel.
(up to 90% CNG and 10% diesel)
• This is done both for economics reasons
(natural gas being much cheaper per energy
unit than diesel) and environmental
consideration (lower NOx).
 Natural Gas
Duel fuel engines
• Natural gas has lower combustion
temperature than diesel fuel.
• These engine are also operated with a lean
combustion mixture by using late injection the
combustion temperature can be reduced still
further.
• So that the NOx emissions are decreased.
 Natural Gas
Duel fuel engines
• In addition, because of the lower amount of
carbon in the fuel, less CO2 is generated, and
very little solid particulate emissions.
• However, since diesel engine are unthrotted,
at low load, the lean combustion condition
reduce the combustion temperature,
increasing the HC and CO.
 Natural Gas
Duel fuel engines
• As CNG has a very poor cetane number
providing longer ignition delay period.
• To obtain the same ignition delay or
slightly longer with duel fuel engine, some
modifications are necessary in diesel engine
for CNG applications.
 Natural Gas
Advantage of Natural gas
1. RON of 120, which makes it a very good SI
engine fuel. One reason for this high RON is a
fast flame speed. Engines can operate with a
high compression ratio.
2. Low engine emissions, Less aldehydes than
with methanol, and less CO2.
3. Fuel is fairly abundant worldwide. It can be
made from coal but this is more costly.
 Natural Gas
Disadvantage of Natural gas
1. Low energy density resulting in low engine
performance.
2. Low engine volumetric efficiency because it is
a gaseous fuel same reason as LPG.
3. Need for large pressurized fuel storage tank.
Most test vehicles have a range of only 200 km.
There is some safety concern with a pressurized
fuel tank.
4. Inconsistent fuel properties
5. Refuelling is slow process.
 Alcohol
• Alcohols are an attractive alternative fuel
because they can be obtained from a
number of sources, both natural and
manufactured.
• Methanol (Methyl Alcohol) and Ethanol
(Ethyl Alcohol) are two kinds of alcohol that
seems most promising and have had the
most development as engine fuel.
 Alcohol
Methanol
• Methanol (CH3OH) is an alcohol fuel formed
from natural gas, coal, or biomass feed stock.
Methanol is also called ‘wood’alcohol.
• Methanol is toxic, and ingestion can cause
blindness and death. Methanol has been used as
vehicular fuel since the early 1900s, and is also
used as a fuel for diesel engines and fuel cells.
 Alcohol
Methanol
• Pure methanol is labelled M100, and a mix of
85% methanol and 15% gasoline is labelled M85.
M85 has an octane rating of 102.
• Methanol has been adopted as a racing fuel,
both for performance and safety reasons. Since
methanol mixes with water, a methanol fire can
be extinguished with water, which is not the case
for gasoline.
 Alcohol
Methanol
• Flexible fuel vehicles (FFV) have been
developed to use a range of methanol and
gasoline blends from regular gasoline to M85.
• An optical fuel sensor is used to determine
the alcohol content and adjust the fuel
injection and spark timing. The engine
compression ratio is not increased, to allow for
the lower octane level of gasoline
 Alcohol
Methanol
• The cetane number of methanol is low at
about 5, but it can be used in compression
ignition engines with diesel fuel pilot ignition.
• The formaldehyde is the significant emission
and is proportional to the equivalence ratio, so
rich combustion will produce increased
emissions of formaldehyde.
 Alcohol
Ethanol
• Ethanol (C2H5OH) is an alcohol fuel formed
from the fermentation of sugar and grain
stocks, primarily sugar cane and corn, which
are renewable energy source.
• Its properties and combustion characteristics
are very similar to those of methanol but
ethanol is non-toxic at low concentration.
 Alcohol
Ethanol
• Gasohol (E10) is a gasoline-ethanol blend
with about 10% ethanol by volume.
• E85 is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15%
gasoline.
• E10 reduces the use of gasoline with no
modification needed to the automobile
engine.
 Alcohol
Ethanol
• In Brazil, about half of the vehicles use an
ethanol-based fuel ‘alcohol’ primary
E93,produced from sugar cane.
• The octane rating of ethanol of 111 (RON)
allows use of an increased compression ratio.
The cetane number of ethanol is low, at about
8, but like methanol, it can be used in
compression ignition engines with diesel fuel
pilot ignition.
 Alcohol
Ethanol
• Some studies show that, at present in the USA,
crops grown for the production of ethanol
consume more energy in growing, planting,
harvesting, fermenting, and delivery that what is
in the final product.
This defeat one major reason for using an
alternative fuel.
• Ethanol has less HC emission than gasoline but
more than methanol.
 Summary Advantage of Alcohol
• It can be obtained from a number of sources,
both natural and manufactured.
• It is a high octane fuel with anti-knock index
number of over 100. High octane numbers
result, at least in part, from the high flame
speed of alcohol. Engine using high-octane
fuel can run more efficiently by using higher
compression ratio.
 Advantage of Alcohol (Cont)
• Generally lower overall emissions
• When burned, it forms more moles of
exhaust, which gives higher pressure and
more power in the expansion stroke.
• It has high evaporative cooling which result
in a cooler intake process and compression
stroke, Raised volumetric efficiency and
reduced required work input.
 Summary Disadvantage of Alcohol
• Low energy content of the fuel. This mean
that almost twice as much alcohol as gasoline
must be burned to give the same energy input
to the engine. But the power would be the
same, as the lower air-fuel ratio needed by
alcohol.
• More aldehydes in the exhaust. If as much
alcohol fuel was consumed as gasoline,
aldehyde emissions is a serious problem.
 Disadvantage of Alcohol (Cont)
• Much more corrosive than gasoline on
copper, brass, aluminium, rubber, and many
plastics. This puts same restrictions on the
design and manufacturing of engines to be
used with this fuel.
• Poor cold weather starting characteristics
due to low vapor pressure and evaporation.
• Poor ignition characteristics in general.
 Disadvantage of Alcohol (Cont)
• Almost invisible flames, considering
dangerous when handling fuel.
• Danger of storage tank flammability due to
low vapor pressure. Air can leak into storage
tanks and create the combustion.
• Low flame temperatures , which generate
less NOx, but the resulting lower exhaust
temperature take longer to heat catalytic
 Alternative Fuels for CI engine
• A number of fuels are being considered as
alternatives for diesel fuel which are normally
obtained from renewable energy sources and do
produce lower emission.
These fuels include:
• Dimethyl ether (DME)
• Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) fuel
• ‘Biodiesel’ vegetable oils, such as rapeseed
methyl ester (RME), and soybean methyl ester
(SME).
 Alternative Fuels for CI engine
DME
• DME is an oxygenated fuel produced by
dehydration of methanol or form synthesis
gas.
• The volumetric energy density (MJ/litre) of
DME is about half of that Diesel fuel. It burns
with a visible blue flame, similar to that of
natural gas. It is non-corrosive to metals, but
does deteriorate the elastomer (i.e. materials
that have elastic properties.
 Alternative Fuels for CI engine
F-T fuel
• F-T fuel is produced from a catalytic reforming
process.
• The carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2)
are converted into liquid hydrocarbons of
various forms.
• The carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide is
generated by feedstocks e,g. coal or wood or by
a natural gas.
 Alternative Fuels for CI engine
Biodiesel
• RME and SME are produced through a
catalyzed reaction between a vegetable oil and
methanol.
• The methyl ester is obtained through a process
in which the use of methyl alcohol and the
presence of a catalyst (e.g. sodium hydroxide or
potassium hydroxide) chemically breaks down
the oil molecule into methyl esters of the oil and
a glycerine by product.
 Hydrogen
• Hydrogen is projected as possible fuel of
the future. Hydrogen (H2) can be produced
from many different feedstocks, including
natural gas, coal, biomass, and water.
• The production processes include steam
reforming of natural gas, presently the most
economical method, electrolysis of water,
and gasification of coal, which also produces
CO2.
• Hydrogen (H2) is colourless, odourless, and
non-toxic, and hydrogen flames are invisible
and smokeless.
•The global warming potential of hydrogen is
insignificant in comparison to hydrocarbon
based fuels since combustion of hydrogen
produces no carbon-based to compounds
such as HC, CO, and CO2.
• Hydrogen can be used as fuel for Internal
Combustion Engine or Fuel Cell.
• Bi-fuel engines have been used with
hydrogen, in which hydrogen is used at start
up and low load, and gasoline at full load to
reduce cold start emission levels.
• The present the largest user of hydrogen
is the aerospace community for rocket fuel.
• However fuel storage and refuelling for an
automobile are the two greatest problems
that must be solved to make this a viable
vehicle fuel
• The most economical method would be to
distribute hydrogen through pipelines,
similar to natural gas distribution.
 Hydrogen
Fuel storage
• The three methods used to store hydrogen are
1. In a liquid form at -253 oC in cryogenic
container
2. In as metal hydride, such as iron-titanium
hydride FeTiH2. The metal hydride releases
hydrogen when heated by a heat source such as a
vehicle exhaust system.
3. In a pressurized gaseous form at 200 to 700
bar.
• The most common storage methods are
liquid and hydride storage, which have
comparable volumetric storage capabilities,
both requiring about 10 times the space
required by an equivalent 5-gallon gasoline
tank.
• At least a 60-gallon tank of compressed
hydrogen is needed to store the energy
equivalent of 5 gallons of gasoline
• Compressed hydrogen at 70 MPa has one
third the energy density by volume of
compressed natural gas.
• Liquid Hydrogen has one-forth the energy
density by volume of gasoline. Use of liquid
hydrogen has an additional cost, as
liquefaction of hydrogen to -20 K requires an
expenditure of energy approximately equal
to the energy content of the liquid H2
 Hydrogen
Combustion

• The combustion characteristics of hydrogen

are very different from gasoline combustion
characteristics.
• The laminar flame speed of hydrogen air
mixture is about 3m/s, about 10 times that of
methane and gasoline, and the adiabatic flame
temperature is about 100 oC than of methane
and gasoline.
• Since it has wide flammability limit (5 –
75%) pre-ignition and back firing can be a
problem.
• The flammability limits correspond to
equivalence ratios of 0.07 to 9. Water
injection into the intake manifold is used to
mitigate pre-ignition and provide cooling.
EGR and lean operation are used to reduce
NOx level.
Summary of advantage of hydrogen

• High octane number, and when used at a

fuel equivalence ratio of 0.6 (67% excess
air), compression ratio of about 14 can be
utilized without serious knock problems.
• Low emissions. Essentially no CO, CO2 or
HC in the exhaust as there is no carbon in
the fuel. NOx emissions can be kept low if
the engine is operated at low fuel
equivalence ratio.
Summary of advantage of hydrogen
• Fuel availability. There are a number of
different ways of obtaining hydrogen,
including natural gas and electrolysis of water.
However, the total energy and environmental
picture is considered in converting natural gas
to hydrogen, it can be argued that it would be
better to use the natural gas as the engine fuel
directly.
• Fuel leakage to the environment is not
problem.
Summary of disadvantage of
hydrogen

• Heavy, bulky fuel storage.

• Difficult to refuel.
• Poor engine volumetric efficiency.
• High cost fuel at today technology.
• fuel can detonate