DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Selection Criteria and Screening of Potential Biomass-Derived Streams as Fuel Blendstocks for Advanced Spark-Ignition Engines

Journal Article · · SAE International Journal of Fuels and Lubricants (Online)
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4]
  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. Ecoengineering Inc., Sharonville, OH (United States)
  3. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  4. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Here, we describe a study to identify potential biofuels that enable advanced spark ignition (SI) engine efficiency strategies to be pursued more aggressively. A list of potential biomass-derived blendstocks was developed. An online database of properties and characteristics of these bioblendstocks was created and populated. Fuel properties were determined by measurement, model prediction, or literature review. Screening criteria were developed to determine if a bioblendstock met the requirements for advanced SI engines. Criteria included melting point (or cloud point) < -10 degrees C and boiling point (or T90) <165 degrees C. Compounds insoluble or poorly soluble in hydrocarbon were eliminated from consideration, as were those known to cause corrosion (carboxylic acids or high acid number mixtures) and those with hazard classification as known or suspected carcinogens or reproductive toxins. Compounds predicted to be less anaerobically biodegradable than methyl-tert-butyl ether with water solubility greater than 10,000 mg/L were also eliminated. A minimum Research octane number (RON) of 98 was applied. These criteria produced a list of 40 bioblendstocks with promising properties. Additional property data, including Motor octane number (MON), heat of vaporization, and lower heating value, were acquired for these bioblendstocks. A subset of the bioblendstocks representing all functional groups were blended into gasoline or a gasoline surrogate to measure their effect on vapor pressure, distillation curve, oxidation stability, RON, and MON. For blending into a conventional or reformulated blendstock for E10 blending, ethanol, 2-butanol, isobutanol, and diisobutylene have the most desirable properties for blending of a high-octane advanced SI engine fuel.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Bioenergy Technologies Office (EE-3B); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1378889
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5400-67366
Journal Information:
SAE International Journal of Fuels and Lubricants (Online), Journal Name: SAE International Journal of Fuels and Lubricants (Online) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 10; ISSN 1946-3960
Publisher:
SAE InternationalCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (41)

Compatibility of Fuel System Elastomers with Bio-Blendstock Fuel Candidates Using Hansen Solubility Analysis journal March 2017
Knock Resistance and Fine Particle Emissions for Several Biomass-Derived Oxygenates in a Direct-Injection Spark-Ignition Engine journal April 2016
Prediction of Hansen Solubility Parameters with a New Group-Contribution Method journal April 2008
BioCompoundML: A General Biofuel Property Screening Tool for Biological Molecules Using Random Forest Classifiers journal September 2016
Ignition characteristics of a bio-derived class of saturated and unsaturated furans for engine applications journal January 2015
The Effect of Compression Ratio, Fuel Octane Rating, and Ethanol Content on Spark-Ignition Engine Efficiency journal July 2015
The Shift in Relevance of Fuel RON and MON to Knock Onset in Modern SI Engines Over the Last 70 Years journal October 2009
Gasoline and Diesel Oil Biodegradation journal July 2003
The Effects of Octane, Sensitivity and K on the Performance and Fuel Economy of a Direct Injection Spark Ignition Vehicle conference April 2014
An Overview of the Effects of Ethanol-Gasoline Blends on SI Engine Performance, Fuel Efficiency, and Emissions journal April 2013
Renewable Oxygenate Blending Effects on Gasoline Properties journal October 2011
Auto-Ignition Quality of Practical Fuels and Implications for Fuel Requirements of Future SI and HCCI Engines conference April 2005
Enthalpies of Vaporization of Organic and Organometallic Compounds, 1880–2002 journal June 2003
Fuel Anti-Knock Quality- Part II. Vehicle Studies - How Relevant is Motor Octane Number (MON) in Modern Engines? conference September 2001
Model-Based Design of Tailor-Made Biofuels journal February 2016
Gum Formation in Gasoline and Its Blends: A Review journal November 2015
Process Design and Economics for the Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Hydrocarbon Fuels. Thermochemical Research Pathways with In Situ and Ex Situ Upgrading of Fast Pyrolysis Vapors report March 2015
Benefits of a Higher Octane Standard Gasoline for the U.S. Light-Duty Vehicle Fleet conference April 2014
Chemical kinetics of octane sensitivity in a spark-ignition engine journal January 2017
Impact of Higher Alcohols Blended in Gasoline on Light-Duty Vehicle Exhaust Emissions journal November 2013
Integration of chemical catalysis with extractive fermentation to produce fuels journal November 2012
Exploring the Relationship Between Octane Sensitivity and Heat-of-Vaporization journal April 2016
Efficient catalytic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into renewable liquid biofuels via furan derivatives journal January 2014
The Primary Aerobic Biodegradation of Gasoline Hydrocarbons journal April 2007
Properties and Performance of Levulinate Esters as Diesel Blend Components journal November 2011
Heat of Vaporization Measurements for Ethanol Blends Up To 50 Volume Percent in Several Hydrocarbon Blendstocks and Implications for Knock in SI Engines journal April 2015
Compendium of Experimental Cetane Numbers report August 2014
Review: Fuel Volatility Standards and Spark-Ignition Vehicle Driveability journal March 2016
Fuel Anti-Knock Quality - Part I. Engine Studies conference September 2001
Heterobimetallic Zeolite, InV-ZSM-5, Enables Efficient Conversion of Biomass Derived Ethanol to Renewable Hydrocarbons journal November 2015
Structural Group Contribution Method for Predicting the Octane Number of Pure Hydrocarbon Liquids journal January 2003
Economic and Environmental Benefits of Higher-Octane Gasoline journal May 2014
Cyclic Oxygenates: A New Class of Second-Generation Biofuels for Diesel Engines? journal April 2009
High octane number ethanol–gasoline blends: Quantifying the potential benefits in the United States journal July 2012
Effects of Fuel Octane Rating and Ethanol Content on Knock, Fuel Economy, and CO2 for a Turbocharged DI Engine journal April 2014
Relating the octane numbers of fuels to ignition delay times measured in an ignition quality tester (IQT) journal January 2017
A Novel Group Contribution Method for the Prediction of the Derived Cetane Number of Oxygenated Hydrocarbons journal August 2015
Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass: Potentials of 2-butanone and 2-methylfuran in direct injection spark ignition engines journal March 2016
Efficient Production of Furan Derivatives from a Sugar Mixture by Catalytic Process journal June 2012
Anaerobic biodegradation of known and potential gasoline oxygenates in the terrestrial subsurface journal May 1993
Properties of Oxygenates Found in Upgraded Biomass Pyrolysis Oil as Components of Spark and Compression Ignition Engine Fuels journal March 2015

Cited By (5)

Assessment of the use of ethanol instead of MTBE as an oxygenated compound in Mexican regular gasoline: combustion behavior and emissions journal November 2018
Short-chain ketone production by engineered polyketide synthases in Streptomyces albus journal November 2018
Tailoring diesel bioblendstock from integrated catalytic upgrading of carboxylic acids: a “fuel property first” approach journal January 2019
The use of partial fuel stratification to enable stable ultra-lean deflagration-based Spark-Ignition engine operation with controlled end-gas autoignition of gasoline and E85 journal December 2019
Short-chain ketone production by engineered polyketide synthases in Streptomyces albus journal November 2018