Conventional Fuels

1.Petrol
2.Diesel
ALTERNATIVE FUEL
 The Energy Policy Act of 1993
(EPAct) DOE currently recognizes
the following as alternative fuels:

• Mixtures containing 85% or

more by volume of alcohol fuel,
including methanol and
denatured ethanol
• Natural gas (compressed or
liquefied)
• Liquefied petroleum gas
(propane)
• Hydrogen
• Coal-derived liquid fuels
• Fuels derived from biological
materials
• Electricity (including electricity
from solar energy)
• 100% Biodiesel (B100)
What are the characteristics of alternative fuels?
Primary Main Liquid
Components Fuel or
Source Gas
Biodiesel Vegetable oil, Soybean oil Liquid
animal fats, or
recycled restaurant grease
Compressed Methane Under- Gas
Natural Gas ground
(CNG) reserves
Ethanol (E85) Denatured Corn, grains, or Liquid
ethanol and agricultural
gasoline waste
Liquefied Methane that Underground Liquid
Natural Gas is cooled reserves
(LNG) cryogenically
Liquefied Propane A by-product of Liquid
Petroleum petroleum
Gas (LPG) refining or
natural gas
processing
Methanol Methanol and Natural gas, Liquid
(M85) gasoline coal, or woody
biomass
 ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLES
Compressed
Natural
Biodiesel(B20) Gas(CNG) Electricity Ethanol(E85)
Any vehicle that Many types of Neighborhood Light-duty vehicles,
runs on diesel today- vehicle classes. electric vehicles, medium and heavy-
no modifications are bicycles, light-duty duty trucks and
needed for up to 5% vehicles, medium buses - these vehicles
blends. Many and heavy-duty are flexible fuel
engines also trucks and buses. vehicles that can be
compatible with up fueled with E85
to 20% blends. (ethanol), gasoline,
or any combination
of the two fuels.
 ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLES
Liquified Natural Gas Liquified Petroleum
Methanol (M85)
(LNG) Gas (LPG)
Hydrogen
No vehicles are Medium and heavy-duty Light-duty vehicles, Mostly Heavy-
available for trucks and buses. which can be fueled duty buses are
commercial sale with propane or available.
yet, but some gasoline, medium and
vehicles are being heavy-duty trucks and
leased for buses that run on
demonstration propane.
purposes.
 Ethanol
Ethanol is an alcohol-based alternative
fuel produced by fermenting and distilling
starch crops that have been converted
into simple sugars. Feedstocks for this
fuel include corn, barley, and wheat.
Ethanol can also be
produced from
"cellulosic
biomass" such as
trees and grasses
and is called
bioethanol. Ethanol
is most commonly
used to increase
octane and
improve the
emissions quality of
gasoline.
 Natural Gas

Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbons, mainly

methane, and is produced either from gas wells or
in conjunction with crude oil production. Natural
gas is consumed in the residential, commercial,
industrial, and utility markets.

Natural gas can either be stored onboard a vehicle

as compressed natural gas (CNG) or as liquefied
natural gas (LNG). Natural gas can also be blended
with hydrogen.
 Natural Gas

The future holds great potential for natural

gas because it can potentially be used in
fuel cell vehicles to make hydrogen.

Researchers found that fuel cell vehicles

using hydrogen produced from natural gas
could present an attractive solution for
cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
 Propane

Propane or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is

a popular alternative fuel choice for
vehicles. Propane is produced as a by-
product of natural gas processing and
petroleum refining so there is already an
infrastructure of pipelines, processing
facilities, and storage for its efficient
distribution.
 Hydrogen

The simplest and lightest fuel is hydrogen

gas. Hydrogen may contain low levels of
carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide,
depending on the source.
 Hydrogen
Hydrogen is being explored for use in
combustion engines and fuel cell electric
vehicles. The energy density of hydrogen is
very low under ambient conditions which
presents greater transportation and storage
hurdles than for liquid fuels. Storage
systems are being developed to address
these problems.
COMBUSTION IN SI ENGINE
Combustion occurs in 3 phases
1. Ignition lag or Delay period
2. Rapid Combustion
3. After burn
 Abnormal Combustion in SI Engine

Knock is the term used to describe a pinging noise emitted from a SI

engine undergoing abnormal combustion.

The noise is generated by shock waves produced in the cylinder when

unburned gas autoignites.
 Unexpected Engine Damage
Damage to the engine is caused by a combination of high temperature and
high pressure.

Piston Piston crown

Cylinder head gasket Aluminum cylinder head

Dangerous Accidents
 Knock cycle
Exhaust valve
Spark plug

Normal cycle Intake valve Observation window

for photography
 Knock

As the flame propagates away from the spark plug the pressure and
temperature of the unburned gas increases.

Under certain conditions the end-gas can autoignite and burn very rapidly
producing shock waves.
end-gas flame shock
P,T P,T
P

time time

The end-gas autoignites after a certain induction time which is dictated by

the chemical kinetics of the fuel-air mixture.

If the flame burns all the fresh gas before autoignition in the end-gas can
occur then knock is avoided.

Therefore knock is a potential problem when the burn time is long.

 Knock

Engine parameters that effect occurrence of knock are:

i) Compression ratio – at high compression ratios, even before spark

ignition, the fuel-air mixture is compressed to a high pressure and
temperature which promotes autoignition

ii) Engine speed – At low engine speeds the flame velocity is slow and thus
the burn time is long, this results in more time for autoignition

However at high engine speeds there is less heat loss so the unburned gas
temperature is higher which promotes autoignition

These are competing effects, some engines show an increase in

propensity to knock at high speeds while others don’t.
 Knock

iii) Spark timing – maximum compression from the piston occurs at

TC.
Increasing the spark advance makes the end of combustion crank angle
approach TC and thus get higher pressure and temperature in the unburned
gas just before burnout.

x End of combustion

P,T

x Ignition
 Knock Mitigation Using Spark Advance

Spark advance set to 1% below MBT to avoid knock

x
x X crank angle corresponding
to borderline knock

1% below MBT
x
x

x
Fuel : Knock Scale

To provide a standard measure of a fuel’s ability to resist knock, a scale

has been devised by which fuels are assigned an octane number ON.

The octane number determines whether or not a fuel will knock in a given
engine under given operating conditions.

By definition, normal heptane (n-C7H16) has an octane value of zero and

isooctane (C8H18) has a value of 100.

The higher the octane number, the higher the resistance to knock.

Blends of these two hydrocarbons define the knock resistance of

intermediate octane numbers: e.g., a blend of 10% n-heptane and 90%
isooctane has an octane number of 90.

A fuel’s octane number is determined by measuring what blend of these

two hydrocarbons matches the test fuel’s knock resistance.
 Octane Number Measurement
Two methods have been developed to measure ON using a standardized
single-cylinder engine developed under the auspices of the Cooperative Fuel
Research (CFR) Committee in 1931.

The CFR engine is 4-stroke with 3.25” bore and 4.5” stroke, compression
ratio can be varied from 3 to 30.

Research Motor

Inlet temperature (oC) 52 149

Speed (rpm) 600 900
Spark advance (oBTC) 13 19-26 (varies with r)
Coolant temperature (oC) 100
Inlet pressure (atm) 1.0
Humidity (kg water/kg dry air) 0.0036 - 0.0072

Note: In 1931 iso-octane was the most knock resistant HC, now there are
fuels that are more knock resistant than isooctane.
 Octane Number Measurement

Testing procedure:
• Run the CFR engine on the test fuel at both research and motor conditions.
• Slowly increase the compression ratio until a standard amount of knock
occurs as measured by a magnetostriction knock detector.
• At that compression ratio run the engines on blends of n-hepatane and
isooctane.
• ON is the % by volume of octane in the blend that produces the stand. knock

The antiknock index which is displayed at the fuel pump is the average of
the research and motor octane numbers:

RON  MON
Antiknock index 
2
Note the motor octane number is always lower because it uses more severe
operating conditions: higher inlet temperature and more spark advance.

The automobile manufacturer will specify the minimum fuel ON that will resist
knock throughout the engine’s operating speed and load range.
 Knock Characteristics of Various Fuels

Formula Name Critical r RON MON

CH4 Methane 12.6 120 120

C3H8 Propane 12.2 112 97
CH4O Methanol - 106 92
C2H6O Ethanol - 107 89
C8H18 Isooctane 7.3 100 100
Blend of HCs Regular gasoline 91 83
n-C7H16 n-heptane 0 0

For fuels with antiknock quality better than octane, the octane number is:

ON = 100 + 28.28T / [1.0 + 0.736T+(1.0 + 1.472T - 0.035216T2)1/2]

where T is milliliters of tetraethyl lead per U.S. gallon

 Fuel Additives

Chemical additives are used to raise the octane number of gasoline.

The most effective antiknock agents are lead alkyls;

(i) Tetraethyl lead (TEL), (C2H5)4Pb was introduced in 1923
(ii) Tetramethyl lead (TML), (CH3)4Pb was introduced in 1960

In 1959 a manganese antiknock compound known as MMT was introduced

tos upplement TEL (used in Canada since 1978).

About 1970 low-lead and unleaded gasoline were introduced over

toxicological concerns with lead alkyls (TEL contains 64% by weight lead).

Alcohols such as ethanol and methanol have high knock resistance.

Since 1970 another alcohol methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) has been
added to gasoline to increase octane number.
MTBE is formed by reacting methanol and isobutylene (not used in
Canada).
 Future Antiknocking Additives
The aromatics, toluene and xylene are the most
likely candidates for a good solvent to use as an
antiknock additive/octane booster.

They are already present in gasoline and no

adverse effects due to adding more are apparent.

Organo Silicon Compounds – Under Study

 Combustion in CI Engine
In a CI engine the fuel is sprayed directly into the cylinder and the fuel-air
mixture ignites spontaneously.

1 cm
0.4 ms after ignition 3.2 ms after ignition

3.2 ms after ignition Late in combustion process 31

Schematic of a diesel spray & flame with temperatures and
chemistry
 In Cylinder Measurements

This graph shows the fuel injection flow rate, net heat release rate and
cylinder pressure for a direct injection CI engine.

Start of injection
Start of combustion
End of injection

33
 Combustion in CI Engine

The combustion process proceeds by the following stages:

Ignition delay (ab) - fuel is injected directly into the cylinder towards the end of
the compression stroke. The liquid fuel atomizes into small drops and
penetrates into the combustion chamber. The fuel vaporizes and mixes with
the high-temperature high-pressure air.

Premixed combustion phase (bc) – combustion of the fuel which has mixed
with the air to within the flammability limits (air at high-temperature and high-
pressure) during the ignition delay period occurs rapidly in a few crank angles.

Mixing controlled combustion phase (cd) – after premixed gas consumed, the
burning rate is controlled by the rate at which mixture becomes available for
burning. The rate of burning is controlled in this phase primarily by the fuel-air
mixing process.

Late combustion phase (de) – heat release may proceed at a lower rate well
into the expansion stroke (no additional fuel injected during this phase).
Combustion of any unburned liquid fuel and soot is responsible for this. 34
 Four Stages of Combustion in CI Engines

Start of End of
injection injecction

-20 -10 TC 10 20 30

35
 CI Engine Types
Two basic categories of CI engines:

i) Direct-injection – have a single open combustion chamber into which fuel

is injected directly

ii) Indirect-injection – chamber is divided into two regions and the fuel is
injected into the “prechamber” which is connected to the main chamber via a
nozzle, or one or more orifices.

• For very-large engines (stationary power generation) which operate at low

engine speeds the time available for mixing is long so a direct injection
quiescent chamber type is used (open or shallow bowl in piston).

• As engine size decreases and engine speed increases, increasing amounts

of swirl are used to achieve fuel-air mixing (deep bowl in piston)

• For small high-speed engines used in automobiles chamber swirl is not

sufficient, indirect injection is used where high swirl or turbulence is generated
in the pre-chamber during compression and products/fuel blowdown and mix
with main chamber air. 36
 Types of CI Engines

Glow plug

Orifice
-plate

Direct injection: Direct injection:

quiescent chamber swirl in chamber Indirect injection: turbulent
and swirl pre-chamber
37
Direct Injection Direct Injection Direct Injection Indirect injection
quiescent chamber multi-hole nozzle single-hole nozzle swirl pre-chamber
swirl in chamber swirl in chamber
38
 Combustion Characteristic
Combustion occurs throughout the chamber over a range of equivalence
ratios dictated by the fuel-air mixing before and during the combustion phase.

In general most of the combustion occurs under very rich conditions within the
head of the jet, this produces a considerable amount of solid carbon (soot).

39
 Ignition Delay

Ignition delay is defined as the time (or crank angle interval) from when the
fuel injection starts to the onset of combustion.

Both physical and chemical processes must take place before a significant
fraction of the chemical energy of the injected liquid is released.

Physical processes are fuel spray atomization, evaporation and mixing of fuel
vapour with cylinder air.

Good atomization requires high fuel-injection pressure, small injector hole

diam., optimum fuel viscosity, high cylinder pressure (large divergence angle).

Rate of vaporization of the fuel droplets depends on droplet diameter, velocity,

fuel volatility, pressure and temperature of the air.

Chemical processes similar to that described for autoignition phenomenon

in premixed fuel-air, only more complex since heterogeneous reactions
(reactions occurring on the liquid fuel drop surface) also occur.
40
 Fuel Ignition Quality

The ignition characteristics of the fuel affect the ignition delay.

The ignition quality of a fuel is defined by its cetane number CN.

For low cetane fuels the ignition delay is long and most of the fuel is injected
before autoignition and rapidly burns, under extreme cases this produces an
audible knocking sound referred to as “diesel knock”.

For high cetane fuels the ignition delay is short and very little fuel is injected
before autoignition, the heat release rate is controlled by the rate of fuel
injection and fuel-air mixing – smoother engine operation.

41
 Cetane Number

The method used to determine the ignition quality in terms of CN is analogous

to that used for determining the antiknock quality using the ON.

The cetane number scale is defined by blends of two pure hydrocarbon

reference fuels.

By definition, isocetane (heptamethylnonane, HMN) has a cetane number of

15 and cetane (n-hexadecane, C16H34) has a value of 100.

In the original procedures a-methylnaphtalene (C11H10) with a cetane number

of zero represented the bottom of the scale. This has since been replaced by
HMN which is a more stable compound.

The higher the CN the better the ignition quality, i.e., shorter ignition delay.

The cetane number is given by:

CN = (% hexadecane) + 0.15 (% HMN)

42
 Cetane Number Measurement

The method developed to measure CN uses a standardized single-cylinder

engine with variable compression ratio

The operating condition is:

Inlet temperature (oC) 65.6

Speed (rpm) 900
Spark advance (oBTC) 13
Coolant temperature (oC) 100
Injection pressure (MPa) 10.3

With the engine running at these conditions on the test fuel, the compression
ratio is varied until combustion starts at TC, ignition delay period of 13o.

The above procedure is repeated using blends of cetane and HMN. The blend
that gives a 13o ignition delay with the same compression ratio is used to
calculate the test fuel cetane number.

43
 Cetane vs Octane Number

The octane number and cetane number of a fuel are inversely correlated.

Cetane motor method octane number

Cetane number

Gasoline is a poor diesel fuel and vice versa. 44

 Factors Affecting Ignition Delay

Injection timing – At normal engine conditions the minimum delay occurs

with the start of injection at about 10-15 BTC.

The increase in the delay time with earlier or later injection timing occurs
because of the air temperature and pressure during the delay period.

Injection quantity – For a CI engine the air is not throttled so the load is varied
by changing the amount of fuel injected.

Increasing the load (bmep) increases the residual gas and wall temperature
which results in a higher charge temperature at injection which translates to
a decrease in the ignition delay.

Intake air temperature and pressure – an increase in ether will result in a

decrease in the ignition delay, an increase in the compression ratio has the
same effect.

45
Fuel Injection System in CI engine
1. Air Injection System
2. Airless or Solid Injection System
a. Common rail system
b. Individual system
c. Distribution system
Common rail system
Fuel Mixture for SI Engine

Carburettor is a device use to

supply air fuel mixture required
for SI engine.

Functions of Carburettor
• To keep small reserve of fuel
at a constant head.

• To vaporise a fuel to prepare

a homogeneous air fuel
mixture

• To supply correct amount of

fuel mixture under all
condition of load and fuel
SIMPLE CARBURETOR
Types of Carburettor
1. Based on the direction of fluid mixture flow
a. Up-draft type
b. downdraft
c. Cross draft type
Up-draft type
This type is placed low on the engine
and use a gravity fed-fuel supply. In
other words, the tank is above the
carburetor and the fuel falls to it.
 Cross – draft type
Down-draft type
This carburetor is used where there is
The downdraft carburetor can provide
little space on top of the engine. The
large volumes of fuel when needed for
air horizontally into the manifold.
high speed and high power output.
According to number of unit
1. Single barrel carburettor
2. Multi barrel carburettor

Based on Working Principle:

1. Constant choke carburettor (Carter, Solex, Zenith Carburetor)
2. Constant volume carburettor (S U Carburettor)
Solex carburetor
CARTER CARBURETTOR
CARTER CARBURATOR