Alternative fuels
One can object to those people who, in response to the question “What can cars drive?” claim that only on gasoline, diesel and gas. In fact, the range is much wider. Follow the link and check out the best synthetic oil for ford 6.7 diesel.
LPG
Liquefied petroleum gas has already been tried as a fuel for cars. For example, in the late 1990s, Opel, Volvo, and a number of other manufacturers offered it as an option for their dual-fuel models. These vehicles were started on gasoline and then, after warming up, switched to liquefied petroleum gas.
In continental Europe and other parts of the world, LPG remains the third most popular fuel after gasoline and diesel. It produces less harmful exhaust gases and is half the price of gasoline. However, you need to take into account its greater consumption – exactly twice as compared to conventional liquid gasoline.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is a fuel that has been prophesied for many decades a great future that does not want to come. On the one hand, it is known that only water condensate will fly out of the exhaust pipe of a car filled with hydrogen, but, on the other hand, it is also well studied that the emission (production) of hydrogen is extremely expensive (more expensive than gasoline and even more so gas), besides, its storage is explosive, at least in pressurized containers, and in special cells it is safe but expensive.
A car’s fuel cell works by combining hydrogen from a tank with oxygen to produce electricity that runs the engine. In fact, the car has its own on-board generator, rather than holding the electricity in a battery.
Bioethanol
Bioethanol is obtained in the process of processing vegetable raw materials for use as biofuel. The resulting ethanol is then mixed with gasoline or diesel fuel to produce a new type of fuel that can be used in most vehicles.
From an environmental point of view, the use of bioethanol makes sense because the carbon dioxide it produces when it is burned in an engine is offset by the gases it absorbs during its production.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
In the world there are about 20 million vehicles using CNG (natural gas compressed under high pressure to a liquid state). Many of them are buses and trucks that operate in urban environments, which allows them to minimize their negative impact on the environment. CNG reduces particulate emissions by 75% compared to diesel fuel, and also creates less carbon dioxide than gasoline and up to 90% less nitrogen oxide.
Biodiesel
The advantage of biodiesel fuel is that it is obtained from renewable organic elements. Depending on the generation of biodiesel (there are three in total), fuel can be obtained from rapeseed and other crops, from fat-containing waste, and from microalgae lipids.
Propane
It is important to distinguish propane from liquefied gas. Propane can be called LNG, but not all LNG is propane. Few cars run entirely on propane, and most of them use it as a biofuel, where they run on gasoline first and then switch to propane to reduce emissions.
It’s also worth noting that propane works best in cold climates.
Air
An idea that several companies are working on, namely Jaguar Land Rover Tata and Citroen. The more likely use of compressed air from the two companies was proposed by Citroen in the Cactus Airflow 2L in 2014. It used a conventional gasoline engine, but with an additional two air cylinders that are charged with regenerative energy. The gasoline engine is combined with the “Hybrid Air” system, which uses the energy of compressed air accumulated in special tanks to rotate the drive wheels, which will reduce the load on the internal combustion engine and reduce the consumption of expensive fuel.
Steam
Don’t laugh: steam was a serious competitor to the internal combustion engine in the early days of ICE cars. One car at the dawn of the automobile era (in 1906) even set a world speed record on land – 200 km / h. Now such machines are made only by enthusiasts.
Kinetic energy
Also another of the alternative energy sources that is widely used by automakers and is more commonly called regenerative braking. The idea is simple: as the car slows down, its driving energy is returned to charge the battery, rather than being lost in the heat and grinding noise of braking.
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere, making up about 78% of the air. We breathe it. Using it to power cars makes sense since it will have very few harmful emissions when used as a fuel. Placed in a tank in liquid form, it works like “air” engines.
When nitrogen is injected from a reservoir, it expands in a sudden transition from liquid to gas, and this nearly instantaneous expansion reaction can be used to power a turbine. The turbine will turn a generator to generate electricity that will be used to propel the car.
Ammonia
Ammonia has been used to power internal combustion engines as early as 1943. Since then, it hasn’t had much of an impact because it has a low energy density—about half that of gasoline.
However, ammonia can be produced cheaply and in large quantities, and can be used as fuel for reciprocating engines or in fuel cells to generate electricity. Ammonia has no carbon, so it produces zero harmful carbon dioxide emissions.
Wood gas
Wood gas has been known since the 1870s and reached its greatest popularity during World War II when fuel was in short supply. It is generated by gasifying wood or charcoal, which then powers an internal combustion engine. True, you can forget about high power and environmental friendliness (the right wood). The car will move, but not fast.
Alcohol
The expression “I’ll fill myself with half a liter” can sparkle with new colors if alcohol becomes automobile fuel. In fact, “alcoholic” cars have been used before, mainly in sports. For example, in drag racing, where methanol is poured. A plus is the high octane rating of methanol and other alcohol fuels such as butanol and ethanol, all of which can be used with internal combustion engines.
Methanol has a lower energy density than gasoline, so more must be used to get the same amount of power from an engine. However, there is evidence that the production of alcohol fuel uses more greenhouse gases than when it is burned in an engine, so from the point of view of mother nature, it is very beneficial to use alcohol as a fuel for cars.
Alternative fuels are much more common than many people realize. You will learn more here.
We hope that the article was useful for you!