Ammonia and gasoline composite liquid fuel blends emulsified with ethanol and methanol for direct displacement in internal combustion engines

Abstract

Ammonia, when blended with hydro carbon fuels, can be used as a composite fuel to power existing IC engines using the hydrogen energy contains in the chemical. Such blends, similar to ethanol and gasoline fuel blends can be used to commercialize ammonia as an alternative fuel. Feasibility of developing ammonia gasoline liquid fuel blends and the use of ethanol and methanol as emulsifiers to enhance the solubility of ammonia in gasoline were studied using thermostated vapor liquid equilibrium (VLE) high pressure cells, in this research. A small VLE cell was used to quantify the solubility of ammonia in gasoline more accurately and a larger VLE cell was used to develop identified fuel blends in sufficient quantities for engine dynamometer tests. A SuperFlow model 902 engine dynamometer with a GM family II Ecotec LE5 2.4L gasoline engine was used to benchmark performance of ammonia fuel blends against standard fuels. Solubility test results prove that emulsifier free pure gasoline is capable of dissolving 23 g/l of ammonia on mass basis (4.5% of ammonia on volume basis) at 50 Psi pressure and 286.65 K temperature in liquid phase. Solubility level is increased with the use of ethanol and methanol. Gasoline with 10% ethanol can retain 51.4 g/l (11.0% on volume basis) of ammonia in the liquid phase at the same pressure and temperature. Methanol has better emulsifying capabilities. Solubility level of gasoline with 10% methanol is 61.8 g/l (11.0% on volume basis). Dynamometer results show the ability of new composite fuel blends to produce the same amount of torque and power in the lower rpm limits. At higher rpm levels ammonia rich fuels result in an increased torque and power. Thus it can be concluded that hydrogen energy can be stored as ammonia-gasoline fuel blends and recovered back successfully without any strenuous modification to the existing infrastructure and end user equipment or behavior.