Researches on the Alternative Fuels Which Can Be Used to Motors

Abstract

The alternative fuels are substances or materials used as fuel, other than the old conventional fuels (oil, natural gases and coals). 
 The paper analyses the most important alternative fuels, such as: bio-diesel, alcohols and hydrogen, presenting at each category the main important characteristics, the advantages and disadvantages presented by them. 
 The methyl-ester which is known as bio-diesel can be used in all motors with ignition by compression, alone or mixed in any proportion with oil, with minor modifications at the injection system. Bio-diesel fuel assures the same motor power as oil does, having even a bigger cetanic number than the usual oil. After tests, it was observed that the consumption is also similar, at the same motor performances. The bio-diesel fuel has very good lubricant properties, such as its adding to oil leads to a better protection of the pieces in motion of the motor.
 The second alternative fuel analyzed are the alcohols. The most used primary alcohol is the methanol, the most simple secondary alcohol is izo- propane and the most simple third alcohol is third-butanone. The most used alcohol as fuel is the methanol and the ethanol.
 The methanol presents some disadvantages such as: the tendency of reducing the effective power, a big delay at self-ignition, the unfavorable properties of oiling, the reduced capacity of mixing with petrol fractions. 
 Finally, the paper presents some researches made on using hydrogen as fuel for auto vehicles motors.