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Abstract
Due to global climate change fears, increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and
economic considerations, there is an interest in developing biological renewable alternatives for
fossil fuels. Of particular interest in the United States, due to domestic production limits, is the
development of technologies that can displace fossil fuels for internal combustion engine
applications. Some popular proposed alternatives include ethanol and gasoline blended fuels,
plant based oils blended with or substituted for diesel fuel, waste vegetable oil in diesel engines,
and synthetic gas or syngas for internal combustion engines. Some promising research
studying these options has been initiated in the University of Wisconsin Stout Integrated
Technology Laboratory. The research program calls for undergraduate student discovery and
design activities, utilizing a project based learning approach. In this paper several projects that
connect undergraduate research and faculty scholarship are presented.
In recent years there has been increased focus on research that develops and evaluates fossil fuel
alternatives for internal combustion (IC) engines. This is due in part to the belief that burning
once inexpensive and plentiful fossil fuels, releases carbon dioxide (CO2) stored by plants many
years ago into the atmosphere. Evidence suggests that the release of CO2 contributes to global
climate change or global warming. The concerns of global warming include melting of glacial
ice caps near the north and south poles which may lead to increased sea levels and significant
human peril, especially in costal settlements. In the Integrated Technology Laboratory at the
University of Wisconsin Stout, we have developed an undergraduate student based research
program to develop and report performance of various biomass based alternatives to fossil fuels
for use in IC engines. The research program is especially of interest to Engineering Technology
Proceedings of the 2013 Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration Copyright
2013 American Society for Engineering Education
Proceedings of the 2013 Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration Copyright
2013 American Society for Engineering Education
HP
2.00
1.50
Gas
1.00
E-85
0.50
Ethanol
0.00
2000 2250 2500 2750 3000 3250 3500 3750 4000
RPM
Proceedings of the 2013 Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration Copyright
2013 American Society for Engineering Education
Ft-Lbs
3.00
2.00
Gas
1.00
E-85
Ethanol
0.00
2000 2250 2500 2750 3000 3250 3500 3750 4000
RPM
Proceedings of the 2013 Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration Copyright
2013 American Society for Engineering Education
Fuel Type
Fuel used (ml) Idle RPM Ideal running sound
Diesel
30
1240
Normal
WVO 20%
25
1330
Normal
WVO 40%
40
1330
Normal
WVO 50%
25
1330
Normal
WVO 60%
20
1320
Hard
WVO 80%
50
1310
Hard/Cuts out
COCO 20%
15
1320
Normal
COCO 40%
25
1330
Normal
COCO 50%
35
1320
Rough
COCO 60%
30
1330
Hard
COCO 80%
30
1320
Hard
Sunflower 20%
35
1320
Normal
Sunflower 40%
40
1330
Normal
Sunflower 50%
40
1330
Hard
Sunflower 60%
35
1330
Hard/Knocking
Sunflower 80%
20
1310
Hard/Knocking
Table 1 Observed Idle Operation Characteristics
In the current semester, a new team of students are continuing this investigation with various fuel
blends. The current team is planning to further quantify the fuel properties at various
temperatures by measuring viscosities and gel points, as well as attempting to quantify engine
power output with promising mixtures.
Proceedings of the 2013 Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration Copyright
2013 American Society for Engineering Education
References
1.
Thomas, J., A Review of Research on Project-Based Learning, The Autodesk Foundation, 2000.
2.
Mills, J., Treagust, D., Engineering Education Is Problem-Based or Project-Based Learning the Answer?,
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http://www.aaee.com.au/journal/2003/mills_treagust03.pdf
3.
Erickson, K., Powers, M., Alternative Energy: Fully Pneumatic Engine, Course Report, Dec. 2010.
4.
Gaylor, A., Lippert, L., Peck, N., Redenbaugh, J., Alternative Energy Project: Ethanol, Course Report,
December 2011.
5.
Srinivasan , C., Saravanan, C., Study of Combustion Characteristics of an SI Engine Fuelled with Ethanol
and Oxygenated Fuel Additives, Journal of Sustainable Energy & Environment 1 pp. 85-91, 2010.
Proceedings of the 2013 Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration Copyright
2013 American Society for Engineering Education
Szybist, J., Foster, M., Moore, W., Confer, K., Youngquist, A., Wagner, R., Investigation of Knock Limited
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Properties of Ethanol/Gasoline Blends as Bio-fuel for SI Engines, International Conference on Mechanical,
Automobile and Robotics Engineering (ICMAR'2012) Penang. Malaysia.
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13. Papagiannakis, R., Rakopoulos, C., Hountalas, D., Giakoumis, E., Study of the performance and exhaust
emissions of a spark-ignited engine operating on syngas fuel, International Journal of Alternative
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14. Kohn, M., Lee, J., Basinger, M., Castaldi, M., Industrial & Chemistry Research, pp. 3570-3579, American
Chemical Society, 2011.
15. Shah, A., Srinivasan, R., Filip To, S., Columbus, E., Performance and emissions of a spark-ignited engine
driven generator on biomass based syngas, Bioresource Technology, 101 (2010) 46564661.
16. Abrams, M., The Revolution May Well Be Gasified, Mechanical Engineering, American Society of
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Biographical Information
SCOTT SPRINGER has been an instructor for the Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering
Technology programs since joining the faculty in 1999. During his time with UW Stout he has
served as program director for Engineering Technology and has supervised Cooperative
Education students. Springer has supervised students on over 70 industry-sponsored projects.
Proceedings of the 2013 Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration Copyright
2013 American Society for Engineering Education
Proceedings of the 2013 Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration Copyright
2013 American Society for Engineering Education