BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

AND SCIENCE, PILANI

Types of Fuels
Alternative Fuels and Performance of
Alternative Fuels
Lecture No. 8, 9 and 10
Dr. Ravi Inder Singh
Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering
Email id: raviinder@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
raviinder@pilani.bits

CONVENTIONAL FUELS
Fuels

Solid Fuels

Gaseous Fuels

Liquid Fuels

Chemical Structure of Petroleum

Paraffin [Cn H2n+
n+2 ]

Olefin [Cn H2n ]

Naphthalene [Cn H2n ]

Aromatic series [Cn H2n-6 ]

Petroleum Refining Process

Crude petroleum as obtained from oil wells contains gases
and certain impurities such as water, solids etc. The crude
oil is separated into gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil etc. by the
process of fractional distillation. This process is based on
the fact that the boiling points of various hydrocarbons
increase with increase in molecular weight.

Thermal Cracking

Catalytic Cracking

Important Qualities of SI Engine Fuels

Volatility

Starting and Warm up

Operating Range Performance

Crankcase Dilution

Vapor Lock Characteristics

Antiknock Quality

Gum Deposits

Sulphur Content

CI Engine Fuels

Knock Characteristics

Volatility

Starting Characteristics

Smoking and Odor

Viscosity

Corrosion and Wear

Handling Ease

Alternate fuels
Solid fuels
Liquid fuels
 Alcohol
 Methanol
 Ethanol
 Alcohol for SI Engines
 Reformulated Gasoline for SI Engine
 Water Gasoline Mixture for SI Engines
 Alcohol for CI Engines

Alcohol
Advantages

It can be obtained from a number of sources, both natural and

manufactured.
 It is a high octane fuel with anti knock index numbers.
 It produces less overall emissions compared to gasoline.
 Alcohols have low suphur content in the fuel.
Disadvantages

 Alcohols have a low energy content or in other words the calorific

value of the fuel is almost itself.
 Produces more aldehydes.
 Corrosive
 Alcohols fuelled engines
has poor cold weather starting
characteristic due to low vapor pressure and evaporation.
 Alcohols have poor ignition characteristics in general.
 Alcohols have almost invisible flames, which is considered
dangerous when handling fuel.

Spark Assisted Diesel

Alcohols and coal derived fuel will also
penetrate as alternative fuels.
Low cetane number
number
Ignition
problem
Vegetable Oil
High kinematic viscosity
High rate of wear and failure in fuel
pumps

Biodiesel
Biodiesel is a general name for methyl esters from
organic feedstock.
Biodiesel can be made from a wide range of vegetable
oils:
rapeseed the most common one
sunflower
palm oil
soy
recycled cooking oils
Germany and France are the largest EU producers

BIODIESEL AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Use of 100% biodiesel would reduce lifecycle CO2 emissions by 40 to 50%.
But, this is not common

Use of 5% blend reduces CO2 emissions by 2

to 2.5%.
Biodiesel is biodegradable

Bioethanol
A 5% blend of Bio ethanol does not require
vehicle modifications, nor affects manufacturers
warranty.
Substitute for MTBE (Methyl
Methyl tertiary butyl
ether) in petrol (octane enhancer)
Flexible
Flexible Fuelled Vehicles, FFV, can use higher
concentrations of bio ethanol
Ford, Volvo and Saab sell FFV (blend of 85%
bio ethanol and 15% petrol)
petrol

Gaseous Fuels
Hydrogen is another alternative fuel tried for IC
Engines.
the "forever fuel" that we can never run out of
Water + energy

Hydrogen + oxygen

hydrogen + oxygen

water + energy

Major
Components
of a
Compressed
Natural Gas
System

What is LPG an LPG Engines?

Auto LPG or Liquefied Petroleum Gas is a generic

name for mixtures of hydrocarbons (mainly propane
and butane) which exists as vapor under ambient
conditions and can be changed into liquid state by
applying moderate pressures.
pressures
Energy content similar to gasoline
Inherently clean burning characteristics

BIO GAS IN AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

Biogas is produced by means of a process known as anaerobic
digestion. It is a process whereby organic matter is broken down by
microbiological activity and, as the name suggests, it is a process
air It is a phenomenon that occurs
which takes place in the absence of air.
naturally at the bottom of ponds and marshes and gives rise to marsh
gas or methane, which is a combustible gas.
Methane

CH4

5075

Carbon dioxide

CO2

2550

Nitrogen

N2

010

Hydrogen

H2

01

Hydrogen sulphide

H2S

03

Oxygen

O2

00

 Producer Gas
Blast Furnace Gas
Coke Oven Gas
Benzol

PERFORMANCE OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES

 Testing could be done for different fuels.

 Fully functional characteristics are still
unknown for many fuel.
 Bio diesel, bio ethanol, hydrogen etc. have
fully developed characteristics of IC engines.
 Long life effects are still unknown.
 Commercial establishment of IC engines
for some fuels is fully functional.

Thank You