Spray Combustion Characteristics of Single/Multi-Component Surrogate Fuel for Aviation Kerosene

In this research, n-dodecane and JW are selected as single and multi-component surrogate fuel of aviation kerosene to study the Jet-A spray combustion characteristics. The spray combustion phenomena are simulated using large eddy simulation coupled with detailed chemical reaction mechanism. Proper orthogonal decomposition method is applied to analyze the flow field characteristics, and the instantaneous velocity field are decomposed into four parts, namely the mean field, coherent field, transition field and turbulent field, respectively. The four subfields have their own characteristics. In terms of different fuels, JW has a higher intensity of coherent structures and local vortices than n-dodecane, which promotes the fuel-air mixing and improves the combustion characteristics, and the soot formation is significantly reduced. In addition, with the increase of initial temperature, the combustion is more intense, the ignition delay time is advanced, the flame lift-off length is reduced, and soot formation is increased accordingly.

Is ortho-Cresol a Viable Lignocellulosic Blendstock? A Kinetic Study of Its Co-Oxidation within a Surrogate Fuel

The viability of the use of ortho-cresol as a bio-blendstock or antiknock additive from lignocellulosic biomass is assessed; Ignition delays of ortho-cresol within blends with iso-octane are measured with the ULille rapid compression machine, and compared with results from the literature; It is shown that ortho-cresol has a strong inhibiting effect on the reactivity towards ignition, most notably in the Negative Temperature Coefficient region; This effect is found to originate from competition with iso-octane on the OH radicals, where the reactivity of ortho-cresol with these radicals does not lead to radical chain-branching.

Influences of C5 esters addition on anti-knock and auto-ignition tendency of a gasoline surrogate fuel

The research octane numbers and auto-ignition characteristics of a toluene primary reference fuel (TPRF), when blended with three C5 esters, γ-valerolactone (GVL), methyl butanoate (MB), and methyl crotonate (MC), were investigated on a cooperative fuel research (CFR) engine and a constant volume combustion chamber (CVCC). In fuel preparation, ethanol was used to improve the miscibility, and the total additive comprised 1/3 ethanol and 2/3 GVL/MB/MC on a molar basis. The experimental results first reveal that the addition of the three series of additives boost fuel octane rating, and their boosting effects rank as MB > GVL ∼ MC when fuels are blended on a molar basis. In contrast, the auto-ignition tendency of the three series of fuel blends, when blended on the molar basis, ranks as the MC blends > the GVL blends> the MB blends. Different from the similar reactivities observed for the MC blends and the GVL blends in the RON tests, the MC blends exhibit higher auto-ignition propensity than the GVL blends, probably because the higher enthalpy of vaporization of GVL causes a more significant cooling effect. Finally, different from the literature studies that reported similar reactivities for pure MB and MC, in this study MB shows lower reactivity than MC when blending with the TPRF gasoline surrogate.

Editorial—Special Issue “Catalysis for Energy Production”

The rapid increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations in the last several decades means that the effects of climate change are fast becoming the familiar horsemen of a planetary apocalypse. Catalysis, one of the pillars of the chemical and petrochemical industries, will play a critical role in the effort to reduce the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This Special Issue is timely, as it provides a collection of high-quality manuscripts in a diverse range of topics, which include the production of green hydrogen via water electrolysis, the steam reforming of ethanol, propane or glycerol, the dry reforming of methane, and the autothermal reforming of diesel surrogate fuel. The topic of the transformation of biomass waste to chemicals is also well represented as is the tackling of CO2 emissions via novel utilization technologies. The Editors are grateful to all authors for their valuable contributions and confident that this Special Issue will prove valuable to scholars, university professors and students alike.