ME 2041 - ADVANCED I.C. ENGINES UNIT-IV 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 beimproved, 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. Although there have always been some IC engines fuelled with non- gasoline or diesel oil fuels, their numbers have been relatively small. Because of the high cost of petroleum products, some third-world countries have for many years been using manufactured alcohol as their main vehicle fuel. Many pumping stations on natural gas pipelines use the pipeline gas to fuel the engines driving the pumps. This solves an otherwise complicated problem of delivering fuel to the pumping stations, many of which are in very isolated regions. Some large displacement engines have been manufactured especially for pipeline work. These consist of a bank of engine cylinders and a bank of compressor cylinders connected to the same crankshaft and contained in a single engine block similar to a V-style engine. Alcohols Alcohols are an attractive alternate 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 seem most promising and have had the most development as engine fuel. The advantages of alcohol as a fuel include: 1. Can be obtained from a number of sources, both natural and manufactured. 2. Is high octane fuel with anti-knock index numbers (octane number on fuel pump) of over 100. High octane numbers result, at least in part, from the high flame speed of alcohol. Engines using high-octane fuel can run more efficiently by using higher compression ratios. COMPILED BY: SP.ARUNKUMAR, AP (SR.GR)/MECH SRI RAMAKRISHNA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PACHAPALAYAM, COIMBATORE-10. 62 out of 99
ME 2041 - ADVANCED I.C. ENGINES UNIT-IV 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 beimproved, 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. Although there have always been some IC engines fuelled with or diesel oil fuels, their numbers have been relatively small. Because of the high cost of petroleum products, some third-world countries have for many years been using manufactured alcohol as their main vehicle fuel. Many pumping stations on natural gas pipelines use the pipeline gas to fuel the engines driving the pumps. This solves an otherwise complicated problem of delivering fuel to the pumping stations, many of which are in very isolated regions. Some large displacement engines have been manufactured especially for pipeline work. These consist of a bank of engine cylinders and a bank of compressor cylinders connected to the same crankshaft and contained in a single engine block similar to a V-style engine. Alcohols Alcohols are an attractive alternate 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 seem most promising and have had the most development as engine fuel. The advantages of alcohol as a fuel include: 1. Can be obtained from a number of sources, both natural and manufactured. 2. Is high octane fuel with anti-knock index numbers (octane number on fuel pump) of over 100. High octane numbers result, at least in part, from the high flame speed of alcohol. Engines using high-octane fuel can run more efficiently by using higher compression ratios. COMPILED BY: SP.ARUNKUMAR, AP (SR.GR)/MECH SRI RAMAKRISHNA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PACHAPALAYAM, COIMBATORE-10. 62 out of 99 gasoline non-