Blending Octane Number of Ethanol on a Volume and Molar Basis in SI and HCCI Combustion Modes

Muhammad Waqas, Kai Morganti, Jean-Baptiste Masurier, Bengt Johansson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The blending behavior of ethanol in five different hydrocarbon base fuels with octane numbers of approximately 70 and 84 was examined under Spark-Ignited (SI) and Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignited (HCCI) operating conditions. The Blending octane number (BON) was used to characterize the blending behavior on both a volume and molar basis. Previous studies have shown that the blending behavior of ethanol generally follows several well-established rules. In particular, non-linear blending effects are generally observed on a volume basis (i.e. BON > RON or MON of pure ethanol; 108 and 89, respectively), while linear blending effects are generally observed on a molar basis (i.e. BON = RON or MON of pure ethanol). This work firstly demonstrates that the non-linear volumetric blending effects traditionally observed under SI operating conditions are also observed under HCCI operating conditions. In keeping with previous studies, the degree of this non-linearity is shown to be a function of the base fuel composition and octane number. By contrast, the molar blending approach is shown to behave differently depending on the chosen combustion mode, with some non-linearity observed under HCCI operating conditions (i.e. BON RON or MON of pure ethanol). This suggests that the well-established blending rules for SI operating conditions may not always be relevant to other combustion modes that operate with globally lean or diluted air-fuel mixtures. This has implications for the design of future fuel specifications.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationSAE Technical Paper Series
PublisherSAE International
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 8 2017

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the Clean Combustion Research Center for providing the experimental facilities. This work was supported by competitive research funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The authors also wishe to thank Mohammed Almansour and Ahmad Radhwan (Saudi Aramco) for preparing the test fuels.

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