Capabilities
-
Materials/Component Compatibility with Advanced Fuels
Experimental facility to assess materials compatibility with liquid-phase and vapor phase simultaneously for over 100 different metal and/or polymer samples under controlled temperature and pressure conditions for each fuel sample of interest. We use a host of measurements and analytical techniques to measure swelling, weight gain, and leaching, and other material property changes. Read More
-
Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS)
This fuel characterization capability offers fingerprinting fuels or quantifying species in a fuel blend using isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Read More
-
Fuel/Oxygenates and Lubricant Interactions
The capability utilizes chemical analytical techniques and enables evaluation of fuel-lubricant interactions to test stability and compatibility of novel lubricants and bio-blendstocks. Read More
-
Advanced Emission Catalysis Capabilities
Provide fuel and catalyst evaluation under various exhaust conditions, including catalyst aging, poisoning, thermal stability, sulfur-tolerance. Advanced capabilities for chemical characterization of catalytic reaction intermediates. Read More
-
Fundamental Emission Catalysis Capabilities
Enable evaluation of aftertreatment catalysts and their interactions with biofuel blendstocks using a broad range of instruments and surface science techniques. Read More
-
Surrogate Mixtures Developed to Represent Real Fuel Properties
Surrogates for gasoline, diesel, and their mixtures with new fuels are developed to match desired fuel properties including RON, MON, cetane number, distillation curve, H/C ratio, density, carbon types, chemical classes, PMI and yield-sooting index (YSI). Read More
-
Reduced Kinetic Mechanisms for New Fuels and Blended with Gasoline or Diesel Fuels
Reduced mechanisms for fuel components, fuel blends, and surrogate mixtures (to represent real fuels) will be developed to target key qualities (ignition phasing, flame speed, heat release rate, emissions) over a wide range of temperature, pressure, equivalence ratio and EGR. Read More
-
Chemical Kinetic Models for New Fuels Blended with Gasoline and Diesel Fuels
Develop chemical kinetic models for fuel components, fuel blends, and surrogate fuels to represent real fuels. These models can be used to simulate autoignition and flame speeds over a wide range of temperatures, pressures, equivalence ratios, and EGR, and be exercised to cover engine-relevant pressure-temperature trajectories. Read More
-
Feedstock Selection and Formulation
Bench top and pilot scale facilities for process development, scale up and for the production of conversion ready feedstocks from renewable resources, needed in the production of sufficient volumes of biofuels and bioblendstocks for performance characterization. Read More
-
Engines for Fuels Research
The development of alternative fuels has to consider fuel effects on engine performance. To this end, the engines used for Co-Optima allow quantifying fuel effects on combustion, real-world efficiency (drive-cycle fuel economy), and compliance with exhaust-emission standards. These research engines can also provide the understanding needed to mitigate implementation barriers to specific high-efficiency technologies, as well as identify synergies between alternative fuels and advanced combustion modes for tomorrow’s engines. Read More