BioEng
Production of second-generation bio-fuel and its influence on engine combustion and emissions
Background
To reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and carbon dioxide
emissions, implementation of sustainable fuels either as alternative
fuels or as blends in conventional fuels is nowadays of great interest.
Political decisions on EU and national levels have set demanding
targets for this development; e.g. is it in Norway and Denmark a
political incentive that all diesel fuels should contain 5 and 5.75%
bio-fuels respectively by 2010.
Second-generation bio-fuels hold great scope as they will significantly
reduce competition with food producing agricultural and improve overall
greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reductions and well-to-wheel energy
efficiency. The process of gasification followed by a synthesis process
to the desired chemical composition of the bio-fuel offers high
flexibility both regarding energy source and end product. This
flexibility offers the possibility to decouple the bio-source from food
agriculture and to focus on plants with high yields, but also the
possibility to use fossil source when suitable, e.g. “stranded” natural
gas.
DME, F-T diesel and methanol are such fuels that are believed to be
promising components in blends for ultra clean fuels for diesel and
gasoline engines. However, differences in their characteristics such as
viscosity, cetane numbers and densities complicate the use of such
fuels in modern highly optimised internal combustion (IC) engines.
These challenges are related to engine performance, fuel consumption
and emission levels, and need be addressed in order to ensure the safe
and durable use of such fuels in commercial engines.
Project goal
The technological challenges related to the efficient use of
bio-fuels in conventional engines are the focus this project, where
experimental and simulation work will advance our knowledge on specific
frontiers related high performing bio-based transport fuels. One of the
main goals are to deepen our understanding of the relative merits of
these fuels’ value chains, between which we could expect that the
actual competition will take place as the market gets more
mature.
This proposal intends to systematically investigate the performance of
second-generation bio-fuels. A test facility will be developed for
parallel studies of different bio-fuels in various state-of-the-art
engines provided by the industrial partners. This enables a direct
comparative study of the obtained results.
Furthermore, theoretical investigation will be carried out to deepen
the fundamental understanding of the thermo-chemical processes
involved. This involves adaption of simulation tools for prediction of
combustion and emission formation, to support further technological
development
Key objectives of the project
Differences between the properties of conventional petroleum fuels
and bio-fuels significantly affect three critical areas associated with
usage in practical applications (car, heavy duty, and industrial
engines): engine combustion, performance and emissions. Therefore, the
objectives are:
- to deepen the understanding of combustion of bio-fuels.
Second-generation bio-fuels from Nordic feedstock, DME, F-T fuels and
low level blending of methanol in gasoline will be primary focus
fuels.
- to investigate the effect of bio-fuel on engine performance including
power output, fuel economy, emissions, and engine durability
(tribology).
- to develop a NOx-smoke emissions reduction strategy, which can enable
bio-fuels to be used with confidence in a wide range of future
applications where compression ignition (diesel) engines are
utilized.
- to contribute to educational training and transfer of knowledge
through PhD studentships and MSc projects.
The different fuels and their overall performance will be evaluated
with a view to the ability to address European standard EURO5 and EURO6
emission regulations.
Project partners
• Dept. of Energy and Process Technology, NTNU, Norway.
• Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, DTU, Denmark.
• Volvo Powertrain/Volvo Technology, Sweden.
• SAAB Automobile Powertrain AB, Sweden.
• LOGE AB, Sweden.
• CHEMREC AB, Sweden.
• Ford Forschungszentrum Aachen, Germany.
More information
Project duration: 2010 - 2013
Budget: 8.361.000 NOK
Nordic Energy Research contributes with 53%
Contact information
Project Manager: Prof. Terese Løvås, Dept. Of Energy and Process
Technology, NTNU, Norway
Phone: +47 735 93709, +47 993 40 226
E-mail: terese.lovas@ntnu.no
