Clean Combustion Research Center Research Articles

Pyrolysis of Waste Tires in a Twin-Auger Reactor Using CaO: Assessing the Physicochemical Properties of the Derived Products

The authors would like to express their gratitude to COLCIENCIAS for the financial support given by the research project (1210-715-51742). F.C. also acknowledges COLCIENCIAS for the Ph.D. scholarship (757-2016). F.C. expresses gratitude to the Clean Combustion Research Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology for the research internship. Some of the measurements presented herein were performed in the KAUST Core Laboratories with assistance from Wen Zhang, Abdul-Hamid Emwas, and Eman Barradah. The authors are also deeply grateful to Cindy N. Arenas for her valuable support with the characterization of some samples

Chemical Kinetics of Asphaltene Pyrolysis

The research reported in this publication was partially supported by the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and the Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC) of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The authors thank Drs. Long Jiang and Aiping Chen for their work on asphaltene separation and analytical chemistry. This research used resources of the Core Labs at the KAUST. We also thank Dr Wen Zhang for the FT ICR-MS analysis and Dr Salvedin Telalovic for the TGA–MS.

Preliminary study on the influence of Octane Sensitivity on knock statistics in a GDI engine

In the 3D-CFD practice, actual gasoline fuels are usually replaced by surrogate blends composed of Iso-Octane, n-Heptane and Toluene (Toluene Reference Fuels, TRFs). In this work, the impact of surrogate formulation on the probability of end-gas auto-ignition is investigated in a single cylinder engine. CFD simulations are run on equal charge stratification to discern the effect of fuel reactivity from that of evaporation and mixing. Blends are formulated using an internal methodology, coupled with a proprietary method to predict knock statistical occurrence within a RANS framework. Chemical kinetics calculations of Ignition delay times are performed in a 0D constant pressure reactor using a mechanism for gasoline surrogates, proposed by the Clean Combustion Research Center of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), consisting of 2406 species and 9633 reactions. Surrogates mimic a commercial European gasoline (ULG95). Five different formulations are presented. Three are characterised by equal RON (95) with progressively decreasing Octane Sensitivity S. The fourth and the fifth have a sensitivity of 10 but with lower RON (92.5 and 90). The combinations allow the reader to separate the effects of octane sensitivity from those of RON quality of the tested fuels. Applying the different surrogates, changes in each of autoignition phasing, magnitude and statistical probability are investigated. Results confirm the dependency of knock occurrence on the Octane Sensitivity, as well as the need to include engine-specific and operation-specific characteristics in the analysis of knock. The Octane Index (OI) formulation developed by Kalghatgi is discussed.

Fuel and Chemical Properties of Waste Tire Pyrolysis Oil Derived from a Continuous Twin-Auger Reactor

The authors would like to express their gratitude to COLCIENCIAS for the financial support to research project 1210-715-51742. F.C. acknowledges COLCIENCIAS for the PhD scholarship 757-2016. F.C. also expresses his gratitude to the Clean Combustion Research Center at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for the research internship. This research used resources of the Core Labs of KAUST.

Effect of Temperature, Pressure and Equivalence Ratio on Ignition Delay in Ignition Quality Tester (IQT): Diesel, n-Heptane, and iso-Octane Fuels under Low Temperature Conditions

This paper was supported by Saudi Aramco FUELCOM Program and Clean Combustion Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.