Design and testing of a dissociated methanol vehicle

Technical Report · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6556562

Karpuk, M E

The concept of dissociating methanol with exhaust gas heat to improve the efficiency of methanol-burning engines has often been described in the literature. The concept has been controversial with conflicting results from analysis and experimentation. In this report, we describe the design and testing of a dissociated methanol vehicle based on a Ford Escort. This work draws heavily on the experience gained by Finegold et al. (1984) when they built a dissociated methanol Chevrolet Citation at the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI). The improvements that we incorporated into the dissociated methanol Ford Escort include a very active, custom palladium on ..gamma..-alumina dissociation catalyst, a liquid methanol injection system for starting and high power operation, and a custom microprocessor-based engine controller provided by Ford Motor Company. The goal of the work described in this report was to design, build, and test a dissociated methanol vehicle to measure the fuel economy and emissions benefits compared to lean burning liquid methanol. The original test plan called for transient testing using the EPA city and highway driving cycle tests. However, technical and funding problems prevented that testing. Steady-state vehicle testing was performed that revealed many of the benefits and problems of the dissociated methanol concept. 19 refs., 40 figs., 14 tabs.

• Research Organization: Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 6556562
• Report Number(s): DOE/CH/10093-H5; ON: DE89007051
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
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ALCOHOL FUELS
ALKANES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DATA
DESIGN
DIAGRAMS
EFFICIENCY
ENGINES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLOWSHEETS
FUEL INJECTION SYSTEMS
FUEL SYSTEMS
FUELS
HEAT ENGINES
HYDROCARBONS
INFORMATION
INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES
METHANOL FUELS
NUMERICAL DATA
OCTANE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
SIMULATION
SYNTHETIC FUELS
TESTING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES