Controlling Fuel Combustion with Electricity
When fuel combusts, it is not the liquid itself that burns. Instead, it is the unstable fuel molecules hovering above the liquid that ignite on contact with oxygen and flame. Removing an oxygen source will extinguish the flame, but this is difficult to do beyond an engine.
” If you toss a match into a swimming pool of fuel on the ground, its the vapor of the gas thats burning. You can smell that vapor and you instantly understand its unpredictable,” stated Prithwish Biswas, UCR chemical engineering doctoral student and very first author of the paper. “If you can manage the vapor, you can manage whether the fuel burns.”
Ionic Liquid: The Core of the New Fuel
The base of the new fuel is an ionic liquid, which is a kind of liquified salt. “It resembles the salt we use to flavor food, which is salt chloride,” Wang stated. “The one we utilized for this project has a lower melting point than table salt, low vapor pressure, and is natural.”
As soon as in the laboratory, the team modified the ionic liquids formula, changing the chlorine with perchlorate. Then, they utilized a cigarette lighter to see if the resulting liquid would burn. “The temperature level from a regular lighter is high enough, and if it was going to burn, it would have,” Wang said.
Next the team tried an application of voltage followed by a lighter flame, which did spark. “Once we shut down the present, the flame was gone, and we had the ability to duplicate that process over and over again– applying voltage, seeing smoke, lighting the smoke so it burned, then turning it off,” Wang stated. “We were excited to discover a system we could start and stop very rapidly.”
Diagram depicting the procedure of igniting and snuffing the flames with ionic liquid. Credit: American Chemical Society
Adding more voltage to the liquid resulted in bigger flames with more energy output. As such the technique could likewise act like a metering or throttling system in an engine.
” You can determine the combustion in this way, and cutting the voltage works like a dead male switch– a security feature that instantly shuts down a machine if the operator ends up being incapacitated,” said Michael Zachariah, distinguished professor of chemical engineering at UCR and corresponding paper author.
Possible Applications and Further Research
In theory, the ionic liquid fuel could be used in any type of lorry. However, there are still questions that require to be addressed before it might be advertised. The fuel would need to be tested in various kinds of engines, and its efficiency would require to be figured out.
A fascinating home of the ionic liquid is that it can be combined with traditional fuel and still behave the way it does by itself. “But there needs to be extra research study to understand what portion can be mixed and still have it be not combustible,” Zachariah stated.
There are a number of locations for additional research on the liquid, the group is excited to have made a fuel that is safe from accidental, unexpected fires.
” This would certainly be more costly than the method they presently make fuels. These compounds are not typically produced in bulk, but if they were, the cost would go down,” Zachariah stated.
If security is crucial, thats a major element of this. You make something safe, then there is a benefit that goes beyond the bottom line,” Zachariah stated.
Reference: “Electrochemical Modulation of the Flammability of Ionic Liquid Fuels” by Prithwish Biswas, Yujie Wang, Erik Hagen and Michael R. Zachariah, 24 July 2023, Journal of the American Chemical Society.DOI: 10.1021/ jacs.3 c04820.
UC Riverside engineers have actually developed a distinct liquid fuel that sparks entirely through electrical existing, enhancing safety by removing unintentional fire threats. This innovative fuel, based on modified ionic liquid, enables regulated combustion and might possibly transform lorry safety, though additional research study and cost factors to consider are necessary.
Chemical engineers at UC Riverside have developed a special liquid fuel that needs an electric existing to spark. Unlike conventional fuels, this ingenious fuel doesnt respond to flames and can not begin accidental fires throughout storage or transportation, it is a “safe” liquid fuel.
” The fuel were usually using is not really safe. It vaporizes and might ignite, and its tough to stop that,” stated Yujie Wang, UCR chemical engineering doctoral student and co-author of a brand-new paper about the fuel. “It is a lot easier to manage the flammability of our fuel and stop it from burning when we remove voltage.”
The Journal of the American Chemical Society paper describes how the team created the fuel, and additional technical information are likewise included in the patent they filed.
UC Riverside engineers have actually developed a distinct liquid fuel that fires up entirely through electric current, boosting security by getting rid of unexpected fire threats. When fuel combusts, it is not the liquid itself that burns. Instead, it is the unstable fuel particles hovering above the liquid that spark on contact with oxygen and flame. The base of the new fuel is an ionic liquid, which is a form of liquified salt. Theoretically, the ionic liquid fuel might be utilized in any type of lorry.