Introductory Chapter

In this work, as well as providing the descriptions on emerging biofuel technologies to mimic the above-mentioned risks, the chemical and thermal properties of biofuels are described. For example, methanol and ethanol are studied as possible alternative liquid fuel candidates to resemble several physical and combustion properties of gasoline. The study shows that such a fuel blend decreases the engine brake power, increases the BSFC, and decreases the CO and HC emissions, compared to those produced using gasoline (fossil) fuel. The pretreated samples are analyzed for mass and energy yields, calorific values, proximate and elemental compositions, and thermal decompositions. This book also provides basic analyses of diesel, gasoline, and various types of biofuels (including biodiesel fuels) and assessment on limited and unlimited emissions (e.g., greenhouse gases, dangerous exhaust gases, and strong carcinogens and their contents) during and after combustion pathways. The results are evaluated in comparison to trusted measurements and numerical standards. The research equipment is adapted with sensitivity measurements to the environmental contamination.

A one-dimensional model of gasoline engine is developed for predicting the effect of various fuel types on engine performance, specific fuel consumption, and emissions. The role of microbial consortium-based biocatalyst strategies that are being developed to address these issues are reviewed and discussed. Microbial co-culture biocatalysts are engineered to specialize the conversion of a general class of substrates present in the biomass hydrolysates into biofuel intermediates, with the capability of adapting them to the variable composition of the feedstock. The techniques being developed to understand the interaction between the members of the bioconversion consortia and the corresponding population dynamics of the engineered co-cultures are also presented. The simulation of transesterification requires in-depth understanding of the chemical reactions that take place inside the reactor. The development of reaction mechanism of the multiple step triglyceride, triglycerides, and monoglycerides and their reversal reaction is beyond the interest of chemical or mechanical engineers, whose main interests focus on the assessment of the overall conversion and the established performance process metrics. The work undertakes all relevant activities by establishing and formulating the overall process kinetics, as far as the rate constant and activation energy. The obtained values are used to carry out high fidelity reactive flow of the multiple species, copresent inside the reactor, and otherwise complex to be captured experimentally. Experimental results, high-fidelity numerical results, and parametric sensitivity studies will be introduced and discussed. Through a reaction of alkaline transesterification of biodiesel, several mixtures of diesel-biodiesel and their characteristics are assessed and prepared for tests. For example, kinematic viscosity and high heating value of pure biodiesel (B100), pure diesel, and four biodiesel-diesel fuel blends, B2, B5, B10, and B20, have been determined. B100, diesel, and their blends are used in full-cycle tests of four cylinder engines. A virtual instrumentation technology has been developed and implemented into the test approaches. Such advancement has allowed monitoring (in real time) the parameters of internal combustion engines and presented the versatility, flexibility, scalability, and capacity to function in equipment that operates with different liquid fuels at a lower cost than that of conventional systems. These characteristics represent significant benefit, in comparison to the classical measurement and monitoring approaches, in present market.