My Desultory Blog

An article in AutoblogGreen highlighted some positive research on developing a greener diesel fuel.or really an additive that improves petroleum diesel fuel. According to the article, Michael Boot, a doctoral student and researcher from Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) in the Netherlands, calls this new fuel Cyclox. It’s actually a blend of petroleum diesel and 10% cyclohexanone (CH2)5CO which reduces soot emissions by 50 percent. If fuel to air mixtures are adjusted to a 50/50 air to fuel ratio, Boot is able to achieve zero soot .

The additive being used isn’t all that exotic either; it can be made from lignin which is part of the cell walls from plants and trees. The blog post points to all the wasted ‘lignin’ produced during paper manufacturing as a readily available source of waste material that can be utilized to produce the additive.

Along with improvements in the fuel, Michael Boot has also developed a with a new kind of diesel injector nozzle called PFAMEN (Porous Fuel Air Mixing Enhancing Nozzle). The nozzle has a filter on the tip with tiny holes which injects the fuel more efficiently and effectively. His claim is that this will promote better combustion and lowers injection pressure required to atomizes the fuel and in turn reduces fuel consumption. (Technische Universiteit Endhoven link)

Posted via email from richc’s posterous