2024-02-05 10:45:36
Recent research reveals that the use of biofuels could reduce the emission of black smoke from cars and other vehicles by 90%.
The University of Malaga (UMA) in Spain participates in an international study together with the Future Power Systems Group of the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) that investigates how to reduce pollutant emissions from vehicles without affecting the behavior of the engine. The international research team is led by Omid Doustdar from the University of Birmingham.
Specifically, the use of oxygenated biofuels mixed with diesel in a 20 percent volumetric proportion has been analyzed, confirming a reduction in the production of soot – black smoke emitted by cars – of more than 90 percent.
The work developed at the University of Malaga has been carried out by the professor of the School of Industrial Engineering Francisco Javier Martos. Thus, this researcher from the area of Thermal Machines and Engines has been in charge of the analysis of the soot nanoparticles expelled by the engine from the different biofuels studied – bioalcohols such as butanol, pentanol or cyclopentanol and bioketone such as cyclopentanone. The experiments have been carried out at the Central Research Support Services of the UMA (SCAI), using the High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HR-TEM).
Low carbon biomass waste
The main characteristic of these biofuels is that they can be produced from waste derived from residual biomass such as used oils, algae, agricultural and forestry surpluses or wastewater; and that they are low in carbon.
“Our research shows that the biofuels studied, which we have obtained in the laboratory, in addition to producing very little soot, have a behavior in the engine similar to the fuel from any gas station, which means that no changes would have to be made to it for it to work properly. normal way”, explains Francisco Javier Martos.
The use of biofuels could reduce black smoke emissions from cars by 90%. (Photo: NPS / Jacob W. Frank)
Environmental and public health problems
According to the UMA researcher, this work opens up a new way that could reduce the emission of soot from thermal engines and, thereby, alleviate the environmental and public health problems that it entails.
“The soot particles emitted by the engines are expelled into the environment, remaining in suspension, affecting the climate, since it increases the greenhouse effect, and public health, since since they are not deposited in the ground, they have a high probability of being inhaled by the living beings,” says Martos.
Moving towards sustainable mobility through the establishment of Low Emission Zones is already a reality in all Spanish cities and municipalities that have more than 50,000 inhabitants, according to the Climate Change and Energy Transition Law.
This research “opens the door to the use of fuels that are not derived from petroleum and could reduce the emission of pollutants in vehicles.” Achieving its commercialization is a long-term objective of this international scientific team, which already maintains agreements with some commercial brands.
The study is titled “The significance of low carbon bio-alcohols and bio-ketones fuels for clean propulsion systems.” And it has been published in the academic journal Fuel. (Source: UMA)
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