[en] To find a useful and environment-friendly fuel is difficult. Lead and benzene already were replaced by methyl tertiary butylether (MTBE), but this fuel additive too appears to be hazardous for man and the environment. When MTBE will be banned the chances for so-called green petrol (made from biomass) are rising. A brief overview of the developments in the field of fuel additives so far is given

[en] A membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with a novel water management layer (WML) used in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was prepared. The so called WML, which was located between the carbon paper and the catalyst layer, was a sublayer composed of carbon and hydrophobic PTFE. Various parameters of the WML, including carbon loading, PTFE content and species, sintering time and temperature and pore formers, were investigated in this study. As demonstrated in our experimental results, the performance of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) PEMFC could be significantly improved by WML in the condition of operation with dry reactive gases. The MEA with the WML exhibited more stable performance than the situation of MEA without WML during a long time running period

[en] Combustion and heat transfer characteristics obtained based co-firing LPG with used engine oils (UEO) in a furnace, are investigated experimentally. In an attempt to assess UEO as a fuel, the UEO-based results are compared with results obtained using two other fuels, namely diesel, and a used cooking oil (UCkO). To ease its admission to the furnace and its subsequent vaporization and combustion, UEO is preheated by allowing it to flow upwardly in a vertical pipe surrounded by hot gases generated from LPG combustion. UEO that reaches the tip of the pipe un-vaporized, spills and hence has the chance to further heatup and vaporize as it exchanges heat with the upwardly flowing LPG combustion gases, in a counter flow process. Runs are divided into three groups based on the mass ratio of the liquid-fuel/LPG and the mass flow rate of the LPG supplied to the furnace. Ranges of these quantities over which UEO qualify as a good fuel and/or good promoter to radiation have been identified.

[en] The production of biofuels from agricultural raw material is attracting great interest for many reasons, among them global warming, oil price hikes, the depletion of oil reserves and the development of new agricultural markets. However, the technologies currently under development are hindered by the fact that available land is limited and by a risk of competition with food crops. In the last few years, research and development efforts have sought to alleviate these limitations by exploring new pathways to convert little-used plant feedstocks to biofuels with better efficiencies. Large-scale research programs concentrating on these new technologies are underway in the U.S. and Europe, with industrial development expected between 2012 and 2020

[en] Nowadays every country is facing energy crisis. Continuous extraction of crude oil resulting in depletion of fossil fuels reserves. It is motivating researchers to develop alternative source of enrgy.Biodiesel is promising alternative for petro-diesel. Lot of work has been done on single biodiesel blend of edible and non-edible source of energy. Very few works has been found on dual biodiesel blend. In the present study, combined blend of second-generation fuel (Jathropha and Karanja) was studied on single cylinder four-stroke multi fuel diesel engine test rig. Performance and emission analysis has been examined at different load and constant speed (1500 rpm). Result showed that break thermal efficiency of diesel is higher than all blends of biodiesel. Break specific fuel consumption of combined blend (JK15KB15) was significantly higher than diesel and marginally lower than single blend of Jathropha (JB30) or Karanja (KB30). Combined blend of JB15KB15 showed lower HC, CO emission but higher NO_x emission than diesel. Moreover JK15KB15 showed better emission characteristics than single biodiesel blend with diesel. (paper)

[en] The present study addresses the issue of the tribological behaviour of cylinder liner and piston ring material of a hermetically sealed reciprocating compressor of Vapour Compression Refrigeration system under the influence of pentaerythritol ester based biodegradable refrigeration oil and compare with synthetic refrigeration oil (Polyol ester-ISO 68grade) using the pin on disc tribometer. Synthesis of pentaerythritol ester based biodegradable refrigeration oil for household domestic refrigeration compressors was carried out via successive transesterification of rapeseed oil. The biodegradable refrigeration oil was blended equally with synthetic refrigeration oil to formulate the best biolubricant. Further Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) technique was adopted for the chemical characterisation of the pin material surfaces. The wear behaviour of the tested pin materials were evaluated using scanning electron microscope. The results show that under same investigational conditions 50% blend of pentaerythritol ester biodegradable refrigeration oil (PBRO 50) with synthetic refrigeration oil demonstrated superior friction reduction performance and inferior wear reduction performance as compared to synthetic refrigeration oil. (paper)

[en] Depletion of fossil fuel sources in a few decades due to industrialization and motorization has led to a keen interest in the production of alternative fuels like biodiesel. Research on the development and improvement of more efficient transesterification process for biodiesel production has attain great attention in the last decade. The using of low cost catalyst is one of the main focuses on the biodiesel production. As a basic heterogeneous catalyst, CaO has been examined in the transesterification of vegetable oils for biodiesel production. In this research, calcium oxide (CaO-X) catalysts were prepared by sol-gel method at different Ca²⁺ precursor concentration (X = 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 M). The crystalline structure and morphology of the synthesized catalysts were characterized by means of x-ray diffraction (XRD) and N₂ adsorption-desorption analysis. All the synthesized catalysts were then applied to transesterification reaction of palm oil to produce biodiesel. The characterization by x-ray diffraction demonstrate CaO-1.0 was partially hydrated due to the incomplete reaction during synthesis. As a matter of fact, formation of H₂O on the surface of CaO causes lower basic strength of the catalysts, thus responsible in lowering the catalytic activity. It is demonstrated that CaO-2.0 exhibits mesoporous structure with least chemisorb amount of H₂O on the catalysts surface has a very active catalytic activity. It was found that 2.0M of calcium precursor has high catalytic activity and 81% FAME yield was obtained within 3h reaction. (paper)

[en] The current study reports outcome of aluminium oxide nanoparticles blend biodiesel fuel on the performance and emission distinctiveness of a compression ignition engine. The biodiesel is formed from Simarouba oil by transesterification method and blended with 50ppm Aluminium oxide nanoparticles. The entire analysis is carried out in invariable speed CI engines with four phase’s pure diesel, diesel+50pppm Aluminium oxide nanoparticles, blended biodiesel (S20) and S20+50pppm Aluminium oxide nanoparticles. The outcome revealed a significant improvement in brake thermal efficiency and reduction in brake specific fuel consumption, carbon monoxide (CO), unburnt Hydrocarbons (UHC). But there is also small percentage increase in oxides of nitrogen emissions. (paper)

[en] The worldwide plastic generation expanded over years because of the variety applications of plastics in numerous sectors that caused the accumulation of plastic waste in the landfill. The growing of plastics demand definitely affected the petroleum resources availability as non-renewable fossil fuel since plastics were the petroleum-based material. A few options that have been considered for plastic waste management were recycling and energy recovery technique. Nevertheless, several obstacles of recycling technique such as the needs of sorting process that was labour intensive and water pollution that lessened the process sustainability. As a result, the plastic waste conversion into energy was developed through innovation advancement and extensive research. Since plastics were part of petroleum, the oil produced through the pyrolysis process was said to have high calorific value that could be used as an alternative fuel. This paper reviewed the thermal and catalytic degradation of plastics through pyrolysis process and the key factors that affected the final end product, for instance, oil, gaseous and char. Additionally, the liquid fuel properties and a discussion on several perspectives regarding the optimization of the liquid oil yield for every plastic were also included in this paper. (paper)

[en] A numerical simulation has been performed to study the biogas combustion in a burner with premixed flame developed under a high intensity small-scale turbulent environment, corresponding to high Karlovitz conditions. The CFD simulations were validated against experimental data for burner running with methane (measured temperatures along the radiant tube and CO emission). The biogas combustion was compared with methane combustion and influence of excess air on combustion was observed. It has revealed that the combustion of biogas with excess air of 1.15 is similar to combustion of methane with same excess air, except the CO concentration which is lower for biogas. Increasing the excess air for biogas combustion leads to the change of flame front position, temperature distribution and higher CO concentration. (paper)