Gasoline Concentration Research Articles

Oily wastewater treatment using low-cost and highly efficient natural and activated Iraqi bentonite

One of the most dangerous organic compounds to the environment is gasoline emulsions, discharged without prior treatment by most oil refining industries. This study focuses on the modification of bentonite clays by acid and thermal activation to maximize their adsorption capacity for treating refinery wastewater. The surface properties and porous structure of the adsorbents were investigated with the use of BET, SEM, FTIR, XRD, XRF, EDX, and MAP methods. Based on the results of BET analysis, the surface area of the raw bentonite (RB) and activated bentonite (AB) was (17.57, 69.72) m2 /g. The four independent variables, namely the initial gasoline concentration (200–1000 mg/L), solution pH (3−9), contact time (30–120 min), and adsorbent dosage (ranging from 0.05 to 0.15 g/L). According to the results, the maximal adsorption capacity (74.6.38, 138 mg/g) by RB and AB was achieved using the following optimized conditions: initial COD gasoline concentration of 1000 mg/L, pH= 6 for RB and pH= 3 for AB, contact time 120 min, and adsorbent dosage 0.15 g for RB and AB. Additionally, the kinetic and equilibrium studies demonstrated that the present adsorption process's kinetics and equilibrium behavior were adequately represented by the pseudo second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm. The data by Langmuir isotherm showed that the maximum adsorption capacity for RB and AB was equal to 83 and 140.84 mg/g, respectively. Furthermore, thermodynamic studies demonstrated that the present adsorption procedures were both spontaneous and endothermic. The mechanism of gasoline adsorption onto RB and AB was effectively investigated with the assistance of characterization techniques. The current study demonstrates that RB and AB can be utilized as adsorbents for the elimination of gasoline with high efficiency.

Investigating Gasoline Contamination Effects on Daphnia’s Heartbeat in a Simulated Lake

Gasoline evaporates quickly on the water's surface compared to other liquid agents. Gasoline, even in trivial amounts, can adversely affect fish and plants that live there. Its vapors may be toxic to birds and mammals at high concentrations. On land, spilled gasoline can rapidly diffuse into the soil, potentially causing groundwater or surface water contamination. And, the gasoline swept with water should be collected into the much larger water body such as lakes and rivers, in which Daphnia thrives while assisting the healthy ecology of so many other aquatic organisms.
 This study used groups of beakers filled with gasoline-contaminated water, vegetable-ground organic materials, and a magnetic stirrer, simulating water currents and organic components in freshwater reservoirs. The effects of gasoline concentrations, organic matter existence, and temperature were investigated. The results showed that the gasoline was highly toxic for the survival of Daphnia, considering their death at a relative concentration of less than 0.1mL of 0.01 ml gasoline/water solution. The heartbeat change% and survival% in 1.0-hour incubation were mathematically proportional to the variables of gasoline concentration, temperature and organic matter amounts, and stirring forces in the gasoline-contaminated water. The dependency of each variable was quantitatively identified. Further study might be needed to understand deeper for mutual relationships of the variables.

Optimization of homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion in a light-duty diesel engine operated using ethyl acetate-gasoline blends

The low temperature combustion mode of homogeneous charge compression ignition eliminates particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen (NO x) emissions trade-off that prevails in high-temperature, diffusion-controlled conventional diesel combustion (CDC). In the present research, the significant challenge of narrow operating load range that hinders the commercial implementation of light-duty HCCI engines was overcome by employing ethyl acetate-gasoline blends. The gasoline concentration in test fuels was reduced in 10% decrements, from 84% to 24%, to replace it with ethyl acetate. The use of ethyl acetate, a renewable fuel, can help solve the energy crisis due to the rapid depletion of fossil fuels. An ignition improver was blended in the test fuels in a predetermined amount of 6% so that combustion stability was not hampered at lower loads. Parametric investigations were conducted to study the effect of progressively increasing ethyl acetate in test fuels on HCCI combustion, performance, and emissions. The machine learning tool of artificial neural network was implemented to learn the behavior of the test engine, considering load and fuel composition as input variables. The feedforward artificial neural network models were developed to predict the start of combustion, combustion phasing, indicated thermal efficiency, and emissions of carbon monoxide, soot, NO x, and unburned hydrocarbon (HC). A multi-objective optimization was performed to arrive at the best operating condition by integrating artificial neural network models with the genetic algorithm. All the developed artificial neural network models could predict responses with acceptable accuracy. The genetic algorithm indicated that the optimum point of the operation was at 80% load and 65% ethyl acetate in the test fuels. Experiments were conducted to validate the optimal HCCI conditions that resulted in 27% higher indicated thermal efficiency, 54% lower HC+NOx, and 99% lower soot emissions than CDC. Overall, the present study demonstrated the benefits of considering ethyl acetate as a fuel to improve HCCI engine metrics of off-road diesel engines.

Biochar improves the performance of Avena sativa L. grown in gasoline-polluted soils

This study investigated the effect of soil contamination by different concentrations of gasoline on oat (Avena sativa L.) and tested the effect of biochar supply to the polluted soils on the performance of oat plants. Oat seeds were sowed in contaminated soils with different concentrations of gasoline: 0% (control), 1%, 2%, 6%, and 10% (v/w), and grown for 2 weeks. Germination, fresh weight, root and stem length, photosynthetic parameters (i.e., chlorophyll content, PIABS, FV/FM, and NDVI), and total antioxidant power were analyzed. The results showed a remarkable negative effect on almost all the investigated parameters starting from the gasoline concentration of 6%. Based on these results, a new experiment was run by adding 5% (w/w) biochar (a carbon-rich byproduct of wood biomass pyrolysis) to the 6% and 10% polluted soils to test whether adding biochar had a beneficial effect on oat performance. The results showed that biochar supply greatly reduced the negative effects caused by gasoline on all the investigated parameters.

Antenna Sensor Based on AMC Array for Contactless Detection of Water and Ethanol in Oil

When ethanol and water are mixed into gasoline, the dielectric properties of gasoline will change. Based on this characteristic, we propose an antenna sensor and study its radiation and sensing performance in detection of ethanol gasoline in 6-7GHz band. In order to avoid the corrosion of the oil sample on the antenna, the antenna adopts a multilayer dielectric substrate structure. A <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2\times 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) array is loaded on the bottom of the antenna to increase the gain of the sensor and reduce the return loss. The antenna sensor has good radiation pattern with a peak gain of 4 dB and high quality factor(Q) up to 69. Furthermore, the antenna sensor shows the advantages of high sensitivity and wide detection range on the detection of oil-water mixture and ethanol gasoline concentration. In order to verify the simulated results, the radiation and sensing performance of the antenna were measured, and the measured results were basically consistent with the simulated ones. Therefore, the proposed antenna sensor can be used for real-time wireless detection in ethanol gasoline transportation.

Investigation of Cu-ZSM5 catalyst for the Emission Reduction in ethanol-gasoline blends using iso-butanol as an additive in SI engine

In this experimental work, the Gasoline engine was used to find out the effects of Cu-ZSM5 zeolite coated catalytic convertor on the emission characteristics of iso-butanol additive in ethanol-gasoline blends. The engine was tested under three speeds namely 2000rpm, 3000rpm, and 4000rpm. The volumetric proportion of the fuel samples taken for testing were gasoline (pure gasoline), E10 (90% gasoline, 10%ethanol), IB5 (95% E10, 5% Iso-butanol) and IB10 (90% E10, 10% Iso-butanol). The physiochemical properties of the fuels like heating value, kinematic viscosity, and density were analyzed for these samples as these values influence the emission formation characteristics. The heating value of the samples was decreased with the gasoline concentration in the fuel samples. E10, IB5, and IB10 produced the heating values of 2.34%, 3.13% and 5.05% respectively less than that of the gasoline. However the fuel properties like density, kinematic viscosity tens to increase with the alcohol concentration in the samples. From the performance results, the Brake specific fuel consumption decreased for E10, IB5 and IB10 of about 3.57%, 5.14%, and 7.13% respectively when compared to gasoline. Brake thermal efficiency of the fuel increased to a noticeable level with the addition of the alcohol in gasoline. Initially, the engine was tested by fitting the commercially purchased catalytic converter in the exhaust system and the emissions values were measured with the help of AVL 444 gas analyzer. Then the engine was fitted with the Cu-ZSM5 coated in-house fabricated catalytic convertor and the emission values were measured. At 3000rpm, it has been found that the zeolite coated catalytic convertor reduces HC, CO and NOX emissions by 33%, 9% and 8.3% more than that of the commercial catalytic convertor.

Experimental investigation on pressure and heat release HCCI engine operated with chicken fat oil/diesel-gasoline blends

Low-temperature combustion is the individuality of Homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines where the combustion is achieved at the temperature lower than the temperature at which NOx is formed. By achieving this type of combustion in the engine it is possible to reduce the formation of Thermal NOx and PM. But on the other hand, the performance. In this current study, the combustion parameters of the engine are studied by varying the input parameters of the engine that has been modified to run in HCCI mode. The engine is fuelled with the blends of chicken fat oil biodiesel (CFOB) and gasoline. In the present work, the engine is tested for combustion properties such as in-cylinder pressure, heat release rate and the rate of pressure rise for different blend ratios. The ignition delay has persistently elevated for an increase in the gasoline concentration in blends. Also, the knock is consistently seen at higher engine loads with the blends of gasoline and diesel as well as gasoline with biodiesel. Diesel fuel exhibited lower peak pressure whereas, pure biodiesel exhibits higher peak pressure and the peak cylinder pressure within the engine at higher load varies from 40 to 75 bar. On comparing the heat release rate, the diesel fuel exhibit lower heat release as compared to fuel blended with chicken fat oil. Due to the delay in the start of low-temperature reactions the peaks on the rate of heat release is reduced. During higher engine load conditions, the engine seizes to operate in HCCI mode instead it operates in a conventional pattern which is clearly proved by the heat release curves obtained for the indicated pressure and crank angle data of the particular operating mode of the engine.

The gasoline vapors spread from “small” spills in an urban environment at low wind speeds

It is noted that the urban environment is polluted by oil products; in particular, there is a large pollution of atmospheric air. It is indicated that one of the pollution sources is the “small” spills, which are characteristic of urban areas. Experimental studies have been carried out on the gasoline distribution in atmospheric air at “small” spills. A single experiment at a low wind speed is considered. Data were obtained on the dependence of gasoline concentration in atmospheric air on the distance from the spill, the height above the level of the spill and the time of the spill. The component composition was studied using chromatographic studies. It is indicated that the distribution of gasoline vapors in the atmosphere is influenced by the ambient temperature, wind speed, surface area of the spill, time from the moment of spilling and the distance above the level of the spill. The gasoline dispersion in atmospheric air was calculated with the software using experimental and calculated data on the surface area of the spill. It is indicated that at low wind speeds (up to 0.5 m/s) from “small” spills of gasoline (up to 3 liters), significant excesses of standards for the content of harmful substances in the atmospheric air can be observed. It was determined that during spilling there is an excess of maximum permissible concentrations of single, hazardous substances such as ethyl benzene, m-xylene and amyl alcohol in the air.

Indigenous biosensors for in situ hydrocarbon detection in aquatic environments

Abstract The use of microbial biofilms for the detection of hydrocarbon contamination in aquatic environments was investigated in this study. Two different microbial biofilms consisting of mixed culture bacteria and microalgae were used as biocatalysts and sensing organisms in the anode and cathode chambers of a bioelectrochemical system, respectively. A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate the potential of this method for sensing hydrocarbon contamination and to study the effect of gasoline (varied between 0.04% (v/v) and 1% (v/v)) and background chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations on the sensor response. A linear relationship was observed for gasoline concentrations between 0 and 0.1% (v/v), while an exponential relationship was noted for the gasoline concentration in the range of 0 to 1% (v/v). Reproducibility and resilience of the biosensor in detecting the presence of hydrocarbons were studied. Finally, the ability of the biosensor to remove COD (∼70%) indicated its possible use in the bioelectrochemical treatment of polluted waters.

Effects of concentration, temperature, ignition energy and relative humidity on the overpressure transients of fuel-air explosion in a medium-scale fuel tank

Experiments were conducted in a 907.5-L fuel tank to investigate the effects of concentration, temperature, ignition energy, and humidity on the explosion overpressure transients of gasoline-air mixture explosions. The results show that the overpressure-time profiles can be roughly divided into four stages: incubation stage, slow acceleration stage, abrupt acceleration stage, descending stage. During the explosion process, intense overpressure oscillation occurred in the fuel tank. Specifically, both the maximum overpressure (pmax) and the maximum rate of overpressure rise ((dp/dt)max) increased firstly and then decreased as the gasoline concentration increased, and the correction between overpressure parameters and gasoline concentration is approximately cubic polynomial. The peak values of pmax and (dp/dt)max were obtained at the concentration of 1.71%.The influence of temperature on pmax and (dp/dt)max was relatively complex, which may result from the vessel volume and the initial gas concentration. Moreover, with the increase of ignition energy, pmax and (dp/dt)max according to a linear increase trend and a logarithmical increase trend, respectively. With the increase of initial humidity, both pmax and (dp/dt)max showed a linear decrease trend. These results are useful for understanding the explosion characteristics of fuel-air mixtures under various initial conditions in medium-scale fuel tanks.

Hypnea musciformis (Wulfen) J. V. Lamour. (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta) responses to gasoline short-term exposure: biochemical and cellular alterations

ABSTRACT Presence of toxic compounds in marine coastal waters has increased exponentially since Industrial Revolution. In this way, we aimed to evaluate biochemical and physiological changes occurring within Hypnea musciformis after short-term exposure to gasoline. Hypnea musciformis was cultivated without gasoline and then exposed to various concentrations of it (0.001 % - 1.0 %, v/v) for periods of 30 min, 1 h, 12 h and 24 h. A Pricncipal Compound Analysis of UV-vis spectral window (200-700 nm) was able to discriminate gasoline-exposed samples according to both exposure time and gasoline concentration. Changes in carotenoid profile composition were observed. Decreased carotenoid content was associated to gasoline exposure time, being lutein and trans-β-carotene the major compounds found. Higher gasoline concentrations negatively interfered with phenolic compounds accumulation. In addition, increased gasoline concentrations corresponded to decreased intracellular starch grains content as well as increased its deposition on cell wall external surface. Data obtained allow us to conclude that gasoline can damage Hypnea musciformis physiology and cell morphology. This is important, considering Hypnea musciformis carotenoids and phenolics are potential biomarkers of environmental stress investigated, as well as its increased cell wall thickness to avoid gasoline diffusion.

Gasoline degradation and nitrogen fixation in soil by pulsed corona discharge plasma

Gasoline contaminated soil poses an environmental and human health problem, which may be partially solved by the emerging non-thermal plasma technology. In this study a pulse corona discharge (PCD) reactor was employed to degrade gasoline in soil and simultaneously to fix nitrogen in soil. The gasoline removal rates were influenced by input power, electrode gap, gas flow rate, initial gasoline concentration, soil pH, and soil moisture. This technology produced no secondary pollution. Ozone, NOx, and hydroxyl radicals, generated directly on the soil surface, were identified as the primary agents responsible for gasoline degradation. The role of the major active agents was determined by ventilating different gases during the corona discharges. In addition, the concentration of nitrate and wettability of soil was increased after the treatment. Safety and fertility of treated soil were investigated by planting lettuce. Thus, soil pollution was remediated using this non-thermal plasma treatment, while simultaneously improving soil nitrogen content and physical characteristics. This process potentially enhances soil fertility and revegetation, since this environmentally-friendly method does not involve other chemicals injections.

Fast and environmental-friendly degradation of tert-butyl mercaptan from contaminated soil using bimetallic-modified Fenton process

In this work, the fast remediation of tert-butyl mercaptan from the polluted soil via a bimetallic Fenton treatment that included Fe2+/Fe3+/Fe0/Cu2+ in the presence of gasoline was studied. The analysis of variance and the Pareto analysis resulting from the central composite design (CCD) showed that the H2O2, CuSO4, Fe3O4 nanoparticles, nano zerovalent iron (nZVI), and gasoline initial concentrations as a secondary contaminant were influential factors on the removal efficiency of tert-butyl mercaptan (with an effectiveness of 2.09%, 13.38%, 1.92%, 2.01%, and 39.73% respectively). Moreover, the interaction of H2O2/nZVI, H2O2/nFe3O4, H2O2/CuSO4, nZVI/nFe3O4, and nZVI/CuSO4 had a positive effect on removal efficiency, while nFe3O4/CuSO4 had a negative one. Surprisingly, the mixing of nZVI and nFe3O4 before adding them to the reactor did not affect the removal efficiency. The optimum conditions suggested for the maximum removal efficiency of tert-butyl mercaptan were the minimum levels of the initial gasoline concentration (2.5 %w/w), a maximum level of CuSO4 (0.12 %w/w), and an optimum concentration of H2O2, nano-ZVI, and nano-Fe3O4 (8.92 %w/v, 0.1194 %w/w and 0.0898 %w/w, respectively) in the studied intervals. This condition led to a 99.27% efficiency removal of tert-butyl mercaptan removal in 20 minutes without pH and temperature adjustments.

A hydrophilic-oleophobic chitosan/SiO2 composite membrane to enhance oil fouling resistance in membrane distillation

To develop an inexpensive and simple technology and increase anti-oil fouling resistance for membrane distillation applications, a hydrophilic/oleophobic nanocomposite membrane was fabricated by using SiO2/Chitosan (CT) sol solution coating with different volume ratios (0.5 : 1, 1 : 1 and 2 : 1 v/v) on PVDF membrane surface. The formation of SiO2/CT layer on membrane surface was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The influence of hydrophilic nanocomposite layer on the characteristics of membranes, including in-air water contact angle, morphology, porosity, liquid entry pressure of water (LEPw) and direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) performance, was investigated. The results show that the composite membrane (SiO2/CT (1 : 1 v/v)- PVDF membrane) by adding of 0.5 and 1 g/L gasoline concentrations not only incurred fouling but also a higher flux with respect to the neat membrane in each gasoline concentration. During 8 hours continuous desalination process of saline gasoline emulsion solution (20 gr/L NaCl solution containing 0.5 gr/L gasoline), it was found that all modified membranes had high performance stability in comparison with the neat membrane, the modified membrane showed high performance stability and flux without decreased salt rejection (99.9%). At the end, we conducted performance comparison between the prepared membranes in current work and presser based process.

Lean NOx reduction over Ag/alumina catalysts via ethanol-SCR using ethanol/gasoline blends

This study focuses on the activity for lean NOx reduction over sol-gel synthesized silver alumina (Ag/Al2O3) catalysts, with and without platinum doping, using ethanol (EtOH), EtOH/C3H6 and EtOH/gasoline blends as reducing agents. The effect of ethanol concentration, both by varying the hydrocarbon-to-NOx ratio and by alternating the gasoline concentration in the EtOH/gasoline mixture, is investigated. High activity for NOx reduction is demonstrated for powder catalysts for EtOH and EtOH/C3H6 as well as for monolith coated catalysts (EtOH and EtOH/gasoline). The results show that pure Ag/Al2O3 catalysts display higher NOx reduction and lower light-off temperature as compared to the platinum doped samples. The 4wt.% Ag/Al2O3 catalyst displays 100% reduction in the range 340–425°C, with up to 37% selectivity towards NH3. These results are also supported by DRIFTS (Diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy) experiments. The high ammonia formation could, in combination with an NH3-SCR catalyst, be utilized to construct a NOx reduction system with lower fuel penalty cf. stand alone HC-SCR. In addition, it would result in an overall decrease in CO2 emissions.

Optical Spectroscopy for Biofuel Composition Sensing

The optical absorption of water-containing bio-fuel is investigated as a parameter to determine the gasoline content of this fuel. Optical measurements reveal that gasoline shows an interesting and useful spectrum with typical absorption behavior in the UV range between 230 and 300nm. This result indicates that significant information can be obtained to determine the gasoline concentration in bio-fuel by UV absorption spectroscopy. A concept for a low-cost measurement system in the fuel line is presented, by implementing a LVOF in combination with a wide-band light source and detector arrays.

Flash points and volatility characteristics of gasoline/diesel blends

Measured flash points of blends of a commercial diesel and a commercial gasoline are presented along with data on volatility characteristics. The flash point falls very rapidly as the concentration of gasoline is increased and reaches −40°C at a gasoline concentration of 16% by volume. This suggests that blends with gasoline concentrations of greater than 50% by volume, which are of interest in the development of gasoline compression ignition (GCI) engines, should be safe to use in vehicles because they will be very similar to gasoline which has a flash point of −45°C.

An In-cylinder Laser Absorption Sensor for Crank-angle-resolved Measurements of Gasoline Concentration and Temperature

An In-cylinder Laser Absorption Sensor for Crank-angle-resolved Measurements of Gasoline Concentration and Temperature

In situ fuel concentration measurement near a spark plug in a spray-guided direct-injection spark-ignition engine using infrared absorption method

Vaporized fuel concentration in a spray-guided direct-injection spark-ignition (SG-DISI) engine was measured using an optical sensor installed in a spark plug. A laser infrared absorption method was applied to quantify the instantaneous gasoline concentration near the spark plug. This paper discusses the feasibility of obtaining in situ air–fuel ratio measurements with this sensor installed inside an SG-DISI engine cylinder. First, the effects of the spray plume from a multi-hole injector on the vaporized fuel concentration measurements near the spark-plug sensor were examined using a visible laser. We determined the best position for the sensor in the engine, which was critical due to the spray and vapor plume formation. Then, a 3.392-μm He–Ne laser that coincided with the absorption line of the hydrocarbons was used as a light source to examine the stratified mixture found during ultra-lean engine operation. A combustible mixture existed around the spark plug during the injection period when a preset air–fuel ratio of 45.0 was used with different fuel injection timings and net mean effect pressure conditions. The effects of the orientation of the spark plug on the measured results and ignitability of the SG-DISI engine were examined. Orienting the spark plug vertically to one of the spray plumes provided more accurate results and better engine reliability. The study demonstrated that it was possible to qualify the air–fuel ratio near the spark plug during the injection period using the developed spark-plug sensor in an SG-DISI engine.

Two-color-absorption sensor for time-resolved measurements of gasoline concentration and temperature

A midinfrared absorption sensor for crank-angle-resolved in-cylinder measurements of gasoline concentration and gas temperature for spark-ignition internal-combustion engines is reported, and design considerations and validation testing in the controlled environments of a heated cell and shock-heated gases are discussed. Mid-IR laser light was tuned to transitions in the strong absorption bands associated with C-H stretching vibration near 3.4 microm, and time-resolved fuel vapor concentration and gas temperature were determined simultaneously from the absorption at two different wavelengths. These two infrared laser wavelengths were simultaneously produced by difference-frequency generation, which combines a near-IR signal laser with two near-IR pump lasers in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal. Injection current modulation of the pump lasers produced intensity modulation of the mid-IR, which allowed the transmitted signals from the two laser wavelengths to be detected on a single detector and separated by frequency demultiplexing. Injection current modulation produced a wavelength modulation synchronous with the intensity modulation for each of the laser wavelengths, and accurate measurement of the gasoline absorption signal required the effects of wavelength modulation to be considered. Validation experiments were conducted for a single-component hydrocarbon fuel (2,2,4-trimethyl-pentane, commonly known as iso-octane) and a gasoline blend in a heated static cell (300 < or = T < or = 600 K) and behind planar shock waves (600 < T < 1100 K) in a shock tube. With a bandwidth of 10 kHz, the measured fuel concentrations agreed within 5% RMS and the measured temperature agreed within 3% RMS to the known values. The 10 kHz bandwidth is sufficient to resolve 1 crank-angle degree at 1600 RPM.