Increasing the octane number of gasoline using functionalized carbon nanotubes

The octane number is one of the characteristics of spark-ignition fuels such as gasoline. Octane number of fuels can be improved by addition of oxygenates such as ethanol, MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether), TBF (tertiary butyl formate) and TBA (tertiary butyl alcohol) as well as their blends with gasoline that reduce the cost impact of fuels. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are as useful additives for increasing the octane number. Functionalized carbon nanotubes containing amide groups have a high reactivity and can react with many chemicals. These compounds can be solubilized in gasoline to increase the octane number. In this study, using octadecylamine and dodecylamine, CNTs were amidated and the amino-functionalized carbon nanotubes were added to gasoline. Research octane number analysis showed that these additives increase octane number of the desired samples. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermal gravimetry analyses (TGA) were used for characterization of the prepared functionalized carbon nanotubes.     

近红外光谱预测汽油辛烷值和辛烷值仪的研制

本文报道了用近红外光谱预测汽油马达法辛烷值,研究法辛烷值和抗爆指数的方法。用多重线性回归和偏最小二乘法回归建立辛烷值的预测模型。基于此模型,首次研制成功光学多道近红外辛烷值仪。     

用近红外光谱分析法测定汽油辛烷值

用近红外光谱技术测定汽油辛烷值,在高精度分光光度计上测得１２个汽油标准样品和４个未知样品的近红外区吸收光谱,建立多元统计分析模型,用逐步回归法和偏最小二乘法对模型进行校准,并将其用于未知样品的预估分析,辛烷值的分析精度达到≤±１．０。     

生物添加剂对汽油机燃油经济性及废气排放影响的研究

将一种棕榈油提取物作为添加剂,加入汽油中以研究其对汽油机燃油经济性和排放品质的影响。针对市场上正使用的辛烷值为93#的高清洁汽油和乙醇汽油,通过发动机台架试验对加剂前后的汽油机性能指标进行了对比和分析．结果表明:加入此种添加剂后对各种汽油的燃油经济性有大幅改善作用,对乙醇汽油的效果尤甚。加剂后可以使乙醇汽油的燃油经济性与普通汽油完全一样。对于93#高清洁汽油,除了未燃碳氢(HC)略有上升外,其他排放物如氮氧化物 (Nox)、一氧化碳等有所减少, CO2排放有明显的改善。对于乙醇汽油,则HC和CO2略有上升。     

Absorption Spectra of Gasolines in the Region 1090–1220 nm

The difference absorption spectra of different grades of gasoline (A-76, AI-92, and AI-95) with octane numbers lying within 76–85 have been investigated experimentally in comparison with hydrocarbons: isooctane, benzene, and n-heptane. The spectra obtained contain absorption bands of the CH₃, CH₂, and CH groups and supposedly of the olefin double bond. The possibility of determining the octane number of an unknown grade of gasoline by using the absorption of a measured difference spectrum at one selected wavelength is shown.     

Experimental and kinetic modeling study of combustion of gasoline, its surrogates and components in laminar non-premixed flows

Experimental and numerical studies are carried out to construct surrogates that can reproduce selected aspects of combustion of gasoline in non premixed flows. Experiments are carried out employing the counterflow configuration. Critical conditions of extinction and autoignition are measured. The fuels tested are n-heptane, iso-octane, methylcyclohexane, toluene, three surrogates made up of these components, called surrogate A, surrogate B, and surrogate C, two commercial gasoline with octane numbers (ON) of 87 and 91, and two mixtures of the primary reference fuels, n-heptane and iso-octane, called PRF 87 and PRF 91. The combustion characteristics of the commercial gasolines, ON 87 and ON 91, are found to be nearly the same. Surrogate A and surrogate C are found to reproduce critical conditions of extinction and autoignition of gasoline: surrogate C is slightly better than surrogate A. Numerical calculations are carried out using a semi-detailed chemical-kinetic mechanism. The calculated values of the critical conditions of extinction and autoignition of the components of the surrogates agree well with experimental data. The octane numbers of the mixtures PRF 87 and PRF 91 are the same as those for the gasoline tested here. Experimental and numerical studies show that the critical conditions of extinction and autoignition for these fuels are not the same as those for gasoline. This confirms the need to include at least aromatic compounds in the surrogate mixtures. The present study shows that the semi-detailed chemical-kinetic mechanism developed here is able to predict key aspects of combustion of gasoline in non premixed flows, although further kinetic work is needed to improve the combustion chemistry of aromatic species, in particular toluene.     

Determination of the octane number of a fuel by the IR spectroscopy method

The near-IR spectroscopy method of control of the octane number (o.n.) of a fuel is studied. An analysis is made of a device developed as an alternative of a measuring system based on a nonselective IR radiation source and of an analyzer based on a laser semiconductor diode. It is shown that the use of the methods of multicomponent regression analysis of spectral data allows measurement of the octane number with an accuracy of S ∼ 0.17 octane number units. The characteristics of the semiconductor laser-based analyzer are investigated and the parameters of radiators are discussed that provide the required sensitivity of the measuring system (up to 10⁻⁴ with respect to optical absorption) in controlling the octane number of a fucl. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 67, No. 2, pp. 244–248, March–April, 2000.     

Study of absorption spectra of gasolines and other hydrocarbon mixtures in the second overtone region of the CH<Subscript>3</Subscript>, CH<Subscript>2</Subscript>, CH groups

We have obtained experimental and model absorption spectra for individual hydrocarbons (toluene, benzene, n-heptane, and iso-octane) and their mixtures in the near IR range (λ = 1080–1220 nm). We model the spectra of nonsynthetic gasolines obtained under the same conditions by combining the spectra of three pure hydrocarbons. We show that the octane number of the studied gasoline is linearly related to the toluene (or benzene) concentrations in the model mixture. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 74, No. 2, pp. 157–161, March–April, 2007.     

拉曼光谱结合偏最小二乘的甲醇汽油甲醇含量快速定量分析方法研究

甲醇汽油是一种用以替代传统汽油的新型燃料,其品质受到甲醇含量的严重影响。因此,甲醇汽油中甲醇含量的快速分析对其品质把控具有深远意义。基于拉曼光谱（Raman）结合偏最小二乘（PLS）建立了一种甲醇汽油中甲醇含量快速定量分析方法。采用激光拉曼光谱仪对49组甲醇汽油样品的Raman光谱进行采集,并进行光谱解析。比较了五种光谱预处理方法对甲醇汽油原始Raman光谱的预处理效果,并采用变量重要性投影（VIP）对小波变换（WT）预处理后的甲醇汽油Raman光谱数据进行了特征变量提取。其次,采用五折交叉验证（5-flod cross-validation (CV)）对PLS校正模型的潜变量数目（LVs）及VIP阈值进行优化。在最优输入变量和模型参数下,分别构建了基于不同输入变量的PLS模型。研究表明,相较于原始光谱-偏最小二乘模型（RAW-PLS）和小波变换-偏最小二乘模型（WT-PLS）,变量重要性投影-偏最小二乘模型（VIP-PLS）可以获得更好的分析性能,其预测集决定系数（R2_p）为0.960 4,均方根误差（RMSEP）为0.0341。因此,Raman光谱结合PLS是一种快速准确的甲醇汽油中甲醇含量分析方法。     

An experimental and modeling study on autoignition of 2-phenylethanol and its blends with n-heptane

2-Phenylethanol (2-PE) is an aromatic alcohol with high research octane number, high octane sensitivity, and a potential to be produced using biomass. Considering that 2-PE can be used as a fuel additive for boosting the anti-knocking quality of gasoline in spark-ignition engines and as the low reactivity fuel or fuel component in dual-fuel reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engines, it is of fundamental and practical interest to understand the autoignition chemistry of 2-PE, especially at low-to-intermediate temperatures (<1000 K). Based upon the experimental ignition delay time (IDT) results of neat 2-PE obtained from our previous rapid compression machine (RCM) investigation and the literature shock tube study, a detailed chemical kinetic model of 2-PE is developed herein, covering low-to-high temperature regimes. Besides, RCM experiments using binary fuel blends of 2-PE and n-heptane (nC7) are conducted in this work to investigate the nC7/2-PE blending effects, as they represent a dual-fuel system for RCCI operations. Furthermore, the newly developed 2-PE model is merged with a well-validated nC7 kinetic model to generate the current nC7/2-PE binary blend model. Overall, the consolidated model reasonably predicts the experimental IDT data of neat 2-PE and nC7/2-PE blends, as well as captures the experimental effects of pressure, equivalence ratio, and blending ratio on autoignition. Finally, model-based chemical kinetic analyses are carried out to understand and identify the controlling chemistry accounting for the observed blending effects in RCM experiments. The analyses reveal that nC7 enhances 2-PE autoignition via providing extra ȮH radicals to the shared radical pool, while the diminished nC7 promoting effect on 2-PE autoignition with increasing temperature is due to the negative temperature coefficient characteristics of nC7.     

基于拉曼特征峰的甲醇汽油甲醇含量测定

采用拉曼光谱分析技术定量分析甲醇汽油中的甲醇含量。首先,对采集到的原始拉曼光谱进行平滑除噪、荧光背景消除、标准归一化等预处理;其次,根据甲醇含量与拉曼光谱的相关性分析找出甲醇含量的特征点;最后,建立了基于拉曼特征峰的甲醇含量一元线性回归模型。针对实验室配制的19个甲醇汽油样本的实验结果表明,该方法准确、稳健、所需训练样本少,可以应用于甲醇汽油中甲醇含量的快速测定。     

Chemical effects of ferrocene and 2-ethylhexyl nitrate on a low-octane gasoline: An experimental and numerical RCM study

An in-depth understanding of fuel additives chemical effects is crucial for optimal use or additive design dedicated to more efficient and cleaner combustion. This study aims at investigating the effect of an organometallic octane booster additive named ferrocene on the combustion of a low-octane gasoline at engine-relevant conditions. Rapid compression machine experiments were carried out at 10 bar, from 675 to near 1000 K for stoichiometric (Φ = 1) and lean (Φ = 0.5) mixtures. The neat surrogate fuel was a blend of toluene and n-heptane whose research octane number was 84. The doping level of additive was set at 0.1% molar basis. Ferrocene does not show a remarkable effect on the 1st- stage ignition but presents a strong inhibiting effect on the main ignition of the surrogate fuel at both equivalence ratios. The inhibiting effect increases with temperature within the investigated range. The negative temperature coefficient (NTC) behavior of the surrogate fuel is enhanced by ferrocene. A kinetic model developed by literature data assembly as well as a novel sub-mechanism involving the formation of alcohols from the reactions of iron species is proposed. The kinetic model developed simulates the inhibiting effect of ferrocene reasonably well at both equivalence ratios. Thanks to the validated kinetic model, the chemical effect of ferrocene on the fuel combustion is explored and compared with 2-ethylhexyl nitrate (EHN), which is a conventional reactivity enhancer. Three major differences between the two additives were identified: the high-temperature stability of the fuel additive, the influence of additive on the toluene reactivity and the effect of the additive on the NTC behavior. The results presented in this study contribute to the in-depth comprehension of chemical effect of two fuel additives (ferrocene and EHN) having opposite effects on fuel reactivity.     

Gasoline electrification: moisture and temperature influence

In the last decades, car manufacturers have introduced plastic materials into the vehicle fuel circuit. Do these modifications have an influence on electrostatic hazards? Several accidents were listed in Japan and the United States while filling the tank. Flow electrification was suspected to be responsible for some of these accidents. In this context, our laboratory studies flow electrification of fuels on the surface of dielectric and conducting materials on different conditions (fuels, moisture, temperature, Reynolds number, etc.).This paper is interested in flow electrification variation depending on atmospheric conditions (moisture and temperature) and on Reynolds number. We propose to evaluate the electrostatic hazards according to these parameters for a commercial gasoline/stainless steel interface.An experimental setup was developed in our laboratory. It consists of a loop representing fuel flowing through a pipe under a specific gas environment (controlled air moisture and gasoline temperature). The current generated by fuel flow is measured. This study allows to determine the main experimental parameters that modify flow electrification phenomenon in fuel.     

Melting Heat in Radiative Flow of Carbon Nanotubes with Homogeneous-Heterogeneous Reactions

The present article provides mathematical modeling for melting heat and thermal radiation in stagnationpoint flow of carbon nanotubes towards a nonlinear stretchable surface of variable thickness. The process of homogeneousheterogeneous reactions is considered. Diffusion coefficients are considered equal for both reactant and autocatalyst.Water and gasoline oil are taken as base fluids. The conversion of partial differential system to ordinary differential system is done by suitable transformations. Optimal homotopy technique is employed for the solutions development of velocity, temperature, concentration, skin friction and local Nusselt number. Graphical results for various values of pertinent parameters are displayed and discussed. Our results indicate that the skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number are enhanced for larger values of nanoparticles volume fraction.     

三维荧光光谱多峰校正测量水中汽油浓度

针对荧光峰值法浓度测量中最佳激发和发射波长的选择问题,提出基于三维荧光光谱的多峰线性回归参数比较法。以市售93号和97号汽油为例,首先利用FS920型稳态荧光光谱仪扫描纯水和纯油品的三维荧光光谱,确定特征荧光峰峰位和强度;其次按不同体积比分别配置7种浓度的油水混合液样品,提取不同样品的荧光峰峰位、强度等特征参量,发现浓度对荧光峰特征参量有较大干扰;然后用排除法确定了93号和97号油水混合液样品分别有23个和22个特征峰;最后采用最小二乘法对每个峰的强度与浓度作线性回归,通过对校正决定系数、F值、灵敏度和截距等参数的比较得出,93号和97号油水混合液的最佳激发/发射波长分别为275/302 nm和285/322 nm。实验结果表明,根据最佳峰校正模型,93号和97号汽油浓度测量的绝对误差分别为0.006‰、0.007‰,比传统的最强峰校正模型精度高1个数量级。     

An experimental and modeling study of tetramethyl ethylene pyrolysis with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon formation

Iso-olefins, in the C₅–C₈ range can potentially be blended with renewable gasoline fuels to increase their research octane number (RON) and octane sensitivity (S). RON and S increase with the degree of branching in iso-olefins and this is a desirable fuel anti-knock quality in modern spark-ignited direct-injection engines. However, these iso-olefins tend to form larger concentrations of aromatic species leading to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Thus, it is important to understand the pyrolysis chemistry of these iso-olefins. In this study, a new detailed chemical kinetic mechanism is developed to describe the pyrolysis of tetramethyl ethylene (TME), a symmetric iso-olefin. The mechanism, which includes the formation of PAHs, is validated against species versus temperature (700–1160 K) measurements in a jet-stirred reactor at atmospheric pressure and in a single-pulse shock tube at a pressure of 5 bar in the temperature range 1150–1600 K. Synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometer (SVUV-PIMS) and gas chromatography (GC) systems were used to quantify the species in the jet-stirred reactor and in the single-pulse shock tube, respectively. The mechanism derives its base and PAH chemistry from the LLNL PAH sub-mechanism. The predictions are accurate for most of the species measured in both facilities. However, there is scope for mechanism improvement by understanding the consumption pathways for some of the intermediate species such as isoprene. The formation of 1, 2, and 3-ring aromatic species such as benzene, toluene, naphthalene and phenanthrene measured experimentally is analyzed using the chemical kinetic mechanism. It is found that the PAH formation chemistry for TME under pyrolysis conditions is driven by both propargyl addition reactions and the HACA mechanism.     

结合小波变换与微分法改善近红外光谱分析精度

微分法可以有效消除光谱背景和基线漂移,同时会增加光谱噪音;小波变换具有很好的去噪功能,章将微分法和小波变换结合用于重整汽油辛烷值近红外光谱分析。考察了微分噪音对辛烷值分析精度的影响以及小波去噪对微分光谱的噪音扣除以及对辛烷值分析精度改善情况。结果表明,微分光谱可以扣除原始光谱的基线漂移,提高分析精度,同时增加光谱的噪音;噪音对分析精度影响很大。微分光谱经过小波去噪处理后信噪比增加,辛烷值分析精度得到改善。     

几种典型国产活性炭吸附各种烃类的NMR研究I、活性炭吸附汽油的1H NMR研究

本工作测量了五种国产活性炭上吸附汽油的¹H NMR参数。发现质子化学位移值与汽油解吸度,谱线半高宽与活性炭对汽油的饱和吸附容量,自旋晶格弛豫时间与活性炭表面酸性基团总量分别有紧密的联系。对此进行了讨论。     

Autoignition of gasoline surrogate mixtures at intermediate temperatures and high pressures: Experimental and numerical approaches

Ignition-delay times were measured in shock-heated gases for a surrogate gasoline fuel comprised of ethanol/iso-octane/n-heptane/toluene at a composition of 40%/37.8%/10.2%/12% by liquid volume with a calculated octane number of 98.8. The experiments were carried out in stoichiometric mixtures in air behind reflected shock waves in a heated high-pressure shock tube. Initial reflected shock conditions were as follows: Temperatures of 690-1200 K, and pressures of 10, 30 and 50 bar, respectively. Ignition delay times were determined from CH^∗ chemiluminescence at 431.5 nm measured at a sidewall location. The experimental results are compared to simulated ignition delay times based on detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms. The main mechanism is based on the primary reference fuels (PRF) model, and sub-mechanisms were incorporated to account for the effect of ethanol and/or toluene. The simulations are also compared to experimental ignition-delay data from the literature for ethanol/iso-octane/n-heptane (20%/62%/18% by liquid volume) and iso-octane/n-heptane/toluene (69%/17%/14% by liquid volume) surrogate fuels. The relative behavior of the ignition delay times of the different surrogates was well predicted, but the simulations overestimate the ignition delay, mostly at low temperatures.     

The behaviour of liquid alkanes near interfaces

Simulations of thick films of liquid alkanes supported on a wax-like substrate were carried out at a number of temperatures in order to investigate the structure and dynamics of molecules near the solid-liquid and the liquid-vapour interfaces. Films of butane, octane and a mixture were investigated. Near the solid surface the liquids were found to be structured and molecular diffusion slowed. However, there was no evidence of a frozen layer at this interface even near the bulk freezing temperature. The mixed liquid showed considerable segregation at both interfaces with preferential absorption of butane at the liquid-vapour interface and octane at the liquid-solid interface.