Abstract
Renewable sources for raw materials are reaching more interest in order to fulfilled future demands for sustainable transport development in condition that conventional sources for these raw resources are limited.
The paper deals with an analysis concerning fuels for internal-combustion engine, in order to satisfy the working conditions requested by customers and by the existent international and national legislation.
There are analyzed the global resources of traditional fuel (hydrocarbons, LPG (GPL), natural gas, alcohol) and alternative fuel (bio-fuels, hydrogen etc.) as well as to the energetic performances of these.
By improving the modern equipments possibilities of the experimental research and dates processing we were study the process of mixture and combustion formation from engines what had function with diverse fuels. Comparative analyses of the indicated and factual parameters has permit to the authors to get the interesting conclusions about:
- The energetic limits of the alternative fuels;
- The ecological performance of the different fuel recipes;
The own research results are undertakes in the last 25 years in the research laboratories of the thermal engines from Transylvanian University of Brasov and Romanian National Institutes of the Road Vehicles (INAR) Brasov.
The main goal of the experimental researches was the evaluation of the vegetable fuels performances from energetically and ecologically point of view, with respect of the following: the effective power, the fuel consumption, the evacuated gases CO, NOX, HC, smoke, and the burning law. The conclusions of these tests show the following:
- Due to decreasing of the worldwide hydrocarbon reserves, the general conclusion is that the gaseous fuels (hydrogen, natural gas, GPL and biogas) and the biofuels (methanol, ethanol and biodiesel) are representing real alternatives.
- By rationally using of the alternative fuels, the energetically performances of the internal combustion engines may be kept, while the atmospheric pollution level may be decreased.
Keywords:internal combustion engine, alternative fuels, comparative study, energetic potential, ecological performance