Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Global energy demand is expected to increase by 50% in the next 20 years to fulfill the growing human population needs and rapid socio-economic development. The transportation sector is a primary driver of energy usage, and consumes nearly 30% of the total produced energy. More than 95% of energy in the transportation sector comes from burning liquid fossil fuels, which are responsible for environmental problems such as air pollution and global warming. As such, transportation has been identified as an important sector for greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation in support of global climate commitments. Electric vehicles are a part of the mitigation strategy, but we are far from a fully electric economy and in the near term there are other solutions that can be applied to address the challenge of reducing GHG emissions. A number of alternative bio-fuels have been investigated in the literature, including bio-diesel and bio-alcohols, to substitute fossil fuels in internal combustion engines. Bio-alcohols are an attractive group of alternative bio-fuels. For instance, very high percentages of ethanol mixed with gasoline are used in spark ignition engines. However, these light alcohols are inappropriate for use in compression ignition (CI) engines due to their low cetane number, low flash point, high latent heat of vaporization, and high resistance to auto-ignition. On the other hand, higher alcohols are attracting renewed interest due to their outstanding properties; including higher energy density, higher cetane number, higher flash point, and lower heat of vaporization compared to light alcohols, making them more appropriate choice for use in CI engines. Furthermore, an increase in the length of the carbon chains improves the ignition quality of alcohol molecules. Although the low production level of higher alcohols prevented their utilization on commercial scale, their production technology has improved to the point where this has become feasible. Higher alcoholics have the potential to address the issues of energy security and contribute to mitigating global warming. However, more research to help understand the performance of these renewable fuels in CI engines and other power generation systems is required to assess their potential. The proposed research intends to advance our understanding of two of the most influential processes on the combustion performance and emissions of these renewable liquid fuels. More specifically, the atomization process (i.e., the break up of a liquid fuel into small drops), and vaporization process (i.e., the conversion of liquid fuel into vapor which then oxidizes to release energy). The long-term objective of the proposed research will lead to groundbreaking advances that will facilitate implementing these renewable fuels in power generation systems so as to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and more importantly to mitigate GHGs. This research will also train highly qualified personnel to work in this economy.