Synthetic renewable fuels potential, combustion and emissions

reFuels show the potential for a fast GHG reduction in mobility and corresponding applications all over europe

reFuels as Necessary Building Block of a GHG-neutral Mobility

Talking to politicians, the future will be 100% electric. A rough overview of the development of vehicle sales, the size of the fleet and its rates of change shows that additional technologies are needed to achieve the climate targets demanded by the countries in Paris.Syntetic fuels from renewable sources (reFuels) enable a much faster greenhouse gas reduction than any fleet conversion. The paper provides an overview of the current situation with a special focus on the European situation

reFuels as necessary Element to achieve Paris Targets are ready

Die Technologiereife der reFuels erlaubt eine rasche Skalierung und damit Wirksamkeit bei der Treibhausgasreduktion

Measurement of the air-to-fuel ratio inside a passive pre-chamber of a fired spark-ignition engine

This paper investigates the local air-to-fuel ratio measurement within the pre-chamber of a spark-ignition engine by determining the absorption of light from hydrocarbons using an infrared sensor. The measurement was performed during fired and motored engine operation points and compared to the more common exhaust lambda measurements. The experiment provided data to compare the mixture preparation in a hot and cold environment of pre-chamber and main combustion chamber. The experiment also gives an indication regarding the possible use of a pre-chamber sensor in a motored engine at higher boost pressures and fuel mass flows, operation points that would overheat the sensor in a fired engine. The work also includes the analysis of the fuel delivery into the pre-chamber of a direct and indirect injection engine. Furthermore, pressure and temperature measurement within the pre-chamber provides information about the critical sensor environment and helps to understand the gas exchange between the two volumes

Optical Analysis of Ignition Sparks and Inflammation Using Background-Oriented Schlieren Technique

To determine the timing of inflammation in gas and gasoline combustion engines, the point of 10% mass fraction conversion of fuel (MFB10) is commonly used. The MFB10 can be determined from the heating curve, which in turn is calculated from the in-cylinder pressure curve. However, the cylinder pressure is an indirect parameter with regard to inflammation, as it is the result of the combustion that follows the inflammation. An attempt is made to derive a new, direct parameter of inflammation based on optical measurements in order to detect inflammation more rapidly and accurately. The background-oriented Schlieren technique (BOS) in combination with high-magnification optics and a high-speed camera is used to detect local density changes coming from the particle wave around the ignition kernel of a hydrogen combustion inside a combustion chamber. Via BOS and regular high-magnification high-speed imaging, the influence of ignition coil dwell time and in-cylinder pressure on the spark phases and the inflammation itself are evaluated. As a potential direct parameter for inflammation, the size of the particle wave resulting from the expanding ignition kernel is evaluated. It was found that a higher coil energy supports a faster propagation of the particle wave at ambient pressure. At higher pressures, general combustion effects override the effect of the influence of the coil energy on the propagation speed of the particle wave. In addition, the presence of successful inflammation was found to influence the spark phases. A directly measurable parameter for ignition could be found at a basic level, which will serve as a starting point for further detailed investigations

Spatial and time resolved determination of the vibrational temperature in ignition sparks by variation of the dwell time

The ignition process initiates the combustion in spark-ignition engines. Therefore, understanding the ignition process is an important aspect in developing more efficient combustion engines. In this thesis, the vibrational temperature of an ignition spark in air under atmospheric pressure and room temperature is observed in spatial and temporal resolution. The temperature is determined by comparing simulated spectra with the measured spectra of the second positive system of N2 between 360 and 381 nm. Changing the dwell time had no significant effect on the vibrational temperature of the three spark phases. In the breakdown the vibrational temperature is about 3300 K. The vibrational temperature of the following arc discharge is in the range of 3750 K to 4350 K. The glow discharge is divided into the negative glow and the positive column. Both show similar vibration temperatures in the range of 3500 K to 3900 K

Measurement of temporal and spatial resolved rotational temperature in ignition sparks at atmospheric pressure

In this work, the temporal and spatial rotational temperature, as an indicator of spark temperature in the gas, of an ignition spark at ambient pressure is determined. With optical emission spectroscopy, the rotational bands of the nitrogen C3Πu → B3Πg transition at a wavelength of 337 nm are for determination. In addition, the electrical values of the current and the voltage are measured with a digital storage oscilloscope. All measurements are performed with a common nickel spark plug and a commercial 90 mJ ignition coil. The dwell time of the coil is varied in four steps from 100 to 25% and the influence on the rotational temperature is measured. The results are split into the three spark phases: breakdown, arc discharge, and glow discharge. The results show a cold breakdown, which is independent from the dwell time. On average, arc discharge is the hottest discharge phase, while the glow discharge has a medium rotational temperature