Recipe for better fuel mileage to be presented at research review
Joe Crosbie (top photo), a senior ISAT major, is researching a way to add water to gasoline to improve fuel economy while fellow senior and ISAT major Caleb Talbot (bottom photo, left) is working with Harrisonburg High School senior Premal Patel on efficient ways to harvest algae that can be used to make biodiesel.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to mix water with gasoline to
save some money at the pump-and benefit the environment too?
That idea may not be as far-fetched as it sounds, although
it will involve more than just adding water from a garden hose. Gasoline
engines cannot burn water, of course, and that’s why they stall when water gets
into a gas tank. Under normal conditions, the two liquids don't mix.
But research in the JMU Alternative Fuel Vehicles lab is
looking at a way to emulsify water with gasoline so that engines can still burn
it. The project is one of several that will be presented at the annual Valley
25 x '25 Research Review on Wednesday, Oct. 24. The event is free and open to
the public and will take place from noon to 5 p.m. in Room 259 of the ISAT/CS
building on the JMU campus east of Interstate 81. Visitor parking will be available.
For parking information contact Ben Delp (delpbt@jmu.edu).
Valley
25x'25 is based at JMU and promotes using a diverse energy portfolio to
achieve 25 percent renewable energy in the Shenandoah Valley before 2025. Other
projects to be presented include an investigation of ways to harvest algae for
biofuel production, biodiesel gas chromatography and using poultry litter as
fuel. A full schedule is available at http://www.jmu.edu/research/wm_library/v25researchreview2012.pdf.
In theory, a gasoline-water mixture, or emulsion, would improve
fuel mileage while also reducing harmful exhaust emissions.
So far, Joe Crosbie, a senior honors student majoring in
integrated science and technology, has only done tests emulsifying water with
diesel fuel and running it through a tractor-trailer engine. The results from
tests he performed in Pennsylvania this summer were mixed. Poisonous emission
levels, such as carbon monoxide and particulate matter, reduced by 50 percent,
but fuel economy went down about 2 percent.
Crosbie is running the tests again at JMU using a gasoline-powered
Harley Davidson motorcycle. The motorcycle is situated on a dynamometer, a
machine that enables Crosbie to run the motorcycle in place in the lab. The
motorcycle is hooked to an emulsion combustion unit that emulsifies a small
amount of water with gasoline.
The creator of the ECU, Eric Cottell, and the manager of a
Shenandoah County company that manufactures the ECU, Wesley G. Pence, received
a $100,000 award for the device during an international competition in
September, beating out 60 other projects from 16 countries. Both men are
working with Crosbie and supporting his research.
Dr. Chris Bachmann, associate professor of integrated
science and technology, said one of the theories behind getting better fuel
mileage with an emulsified blend is that the water will be converted to steam
by heat in the engine that is normally wasted.
Engines send that heat out through the cooling system, but if it could
be turned into steam it would help push the pistons, ultimately getting that
energy to drive the wheels. Bachmann said Crosbie will test a wide range of
water/fuel ratios to see if there is a "sweet spot" that reduces
emissions and saves fuel.
In addition to the support from Cottell, president of Nonox, LTD., and Pence, manager of research
and development for Wholesome Energy
of Edinburg, Valley 25 x '25 funded Crosbie's summer internship to work on the
project.
A Better Way to
Harvest Algae
Also presenting at the symposium will be Caleb Talbot,
another senior ISAT major, and Premal Patel, a senior at Harrisonburg High
School, who are researching ways to harvest algae that can be used to make
biodiesel.
Among the benefits of getting oil from algae is that the plant
reproduces rapidly and can be grown in the ocean where it does not compete for
farmland used to grow food for people and animals. One of the hurdles to making
algae biodiesel practical is finding ways to harvest it that require less
energy than it will produce.
Talbot said he has researched eight to 10 different
harvesting methods and is focusing on two for his senior project. One involves
electrolysis, where he runs electric current through a container of saltwater and
algae. The electrolysis causes the water's hydrogen and oxygen molecules to
separate, with hydrogen gas bubbling to the surface. Since hydrogen atoms have
a positive charge, they attract the negatively charged algae, which cling to
the hydrogen and ride to the top. The algae that rises to the top can then be skimmed
out and put in beakers to dry. Once it is dry, oil can be removed by pressing
the algae or mixing it with solvents.
Talbot also wants to see if the oil can be extracted by
mixing algae and solvents in the Nonox ECU.
As
for the promise of algae biodiesel some day easing the dependence on petroleum
diesel, Talbot is excited. "The earth gets hit with an amazing amount of
the sun's energy, but the earth's surface is two-thirds water. When you look at
the size of the potential zones for growth, they're almost continental. The potential
is there for some huge-scale production. The technology is not there yet, but
the potential is huge," he said.
