A study by a team from the University of Birmingham (UK) finds that low-carbon bio-alcohols and bio-ketones in advanced clean propulsion systems demonstrate a high potential for strategies for vehicular emissions abatement, such as their utilization in hybrid vehicles. In the short term, the researchers conclude, this will improve air quality, overcome full electric vehicle infrastructure challenges, ensure sustainable feedstock sources, and address economic considerations.

An open-access paper on their work is published in the journal Fuel.

Doustdar et al.

This experimental work investigates oxygenated bio-fuel component blends of butanol, pentanol and cyclopentanone with diesel on the combustion characteristics, gaseous emissions and particulate matter (PM). Furthermore, PM characteristics, including size distributions, morphology and nanostructure are investigated.

The oxygen content on the sustainable fuel blend components (bio-alcohols and bio-ketone) and the lower cetane number leading to a longer ignition delay, larger premixed combustion phase and high mean peak combustion temperature reduced the total number of particle concentration by up to 91%.

Characterisation of particles demonstrated morphological and nanostructural alterations, such as the reduction in primary particle size that would lead to greater particle oxidation reactivity. Furthermore, the combustion of oxygenated blends showed a reduction in the total hydrocarbon emissions and an increase in NO₂ concentration.

—Doustdar

Resources

• Omid Doustdar, Soheil Zeraati-Rezaei, Jose Martin Herreros, Francisco Javier Martos, Athanasios Tsolakis, Miroslaw Lech Wyszynski (2024) “The significance of low carbon bio-alcohols and bio-ketones fuels for clean propulsion systems,” Fuel, Volume 361 doi: 10.1016/j.fuel.2023.130641.