Ready For a New Fuel Mix in a Dual Fuel Engine?

(University of Wisconsin-Madison) An award-winning University of Wisconsin-Madison team led by professor Rolf Reitz will showcase at the Wisconsin State Fair a student hybrid vehicle for advanced fuel technology that harnesses the advantages of both diesel and gasoline. The fuels are mixed in the combustion process.

The process, called reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI), involves two separate fuel injections: First, gasoline is swept into the engine with fresh air, with which it mixes uniformly. Then, a diesel fuel is injected, dispersed finely enough that it ignites under compression.

Mixing the two fuels allows combustion to take place at lower temperatures, which both reduces how much energy is lost in just keeping the engine hot, and minimizes the production of nitric oxides, one of the biggest culprits in vehicle-related air pollution.

For additional "green" benefits, Bower's team will use ethanol instead of gasoline, and biodiesel instead of standard diesel.

One hurdle, though, will be the fuel infrastructure. In order to fuel an RCCI engine, a gas station pump must be able to dispense both gasoline or ethanol, and diesel or biodiesel, simultaneously.

"We always have to battle fuel infrastructure," Bower says. "But we do have diesel fuel and we usually have ethanol that's fairly readily available. The idea of basically having a pump with dual nozzles filling both tanks simultaneously isn't out of the question, because they already have the tanks." READ MORE