Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME Seminar Series: Renewable Fuels for Transportation and Their Impact on Soot Nanostructure and Reactivity

 

 

 

Department of Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
11:00 AM– 12:00 PM
October 23, 2007
1227 Hoover Hall

Renewable Fuels for Transportation and Their Impact on Soot Nanostructure and Reactivity

Andre L. Boehman
Professor of Fuel Science and Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Energy & Mineral Engineering
Penn State University

Abstract

The nation and the world are rapidly expanding the use of alternative fuels for transportation applications, but this expansion is limited by resource availability, chemical processing throughput and the chemistry of the fuels themselves.  In this presentation, we will review some challenges and opportunities posed by renewable transportation fuels.  Renewable diesel fuels will be the primary focus, specifically the impact of renewable diesel fuels on the chemistry of diesel soot and the implications for operation of exhaust emission controls.  Our group and many others have shown that fuel chemistry, particularly the use of biodiesel and biodiesel blends, can increase the oxidative reactivity of the diesel soot emitted by an engine, and thereby can increase the ease with which the filtered particulate can be oxidized in diesel particulate filters.  This oxidative enhancement has multiple benefits in that it can reduce the need for active regeneration, reduces the time required to complete a regeneration of the filter and thereby reduces the potential fuel economy penalty associated with diesel particulate filtration systems.  Dramatic increases in the rate of oxidation of diesel soot are observed when comparing diesel soot and biodiesel (B100) soot.  B100 soot was observed to undergo a unique oxidation process, triggered in part by increased surface oxygen functionality.  However, our recent measurements show that by shifting combustion chamber conditions by either simulated (dry CO₂) or actual exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), even more reactive particles can be created.  Through analysis of oxidative reactivity and soot nanostructure, EGR soot is observed to follow a capsule oxidation process, yielding hollowed out soot particles, just as was seen with B100 soot.

Biography

Prof. Boehman’s research interests are in alternative and reformulated fuels, combustion and pollution control.  His present research activities are focused on alternative diesel fuels, diesel combustion and diesel exhaust aftertreatment.  He was recently appointed the Editor of the journal Fuel Processing Technology and has held executive positions with the American Chemical Society Division of Fuel Chemistry and with the International DME Association.  He has received the Faculty Mentoring Award, Matthew and Anne Wilson Award for Outstanding Teaching, and the Philip L. Walker Jr. Faculty Fellowship from Penn State, and the 1999 Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Dayton. At the Penn State Energy Institute, Prof. Boehman manages the Diesel Combustion and Emissions Laboratory. He received PhD (1993) in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. 

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