NASA Funds Reaction Design to Advance Alternative Jet Fuels
July 5, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
| |
| Tools for Aviation/Aerospace |
| IHS sells products and services designed to meet the needs of today's engineers. To learn more, and for a free quote, please complete the form below. |
|
NASA selected Reaction Design, a provider of "clean combustion simulation technology," to develop fuel models for simulating the operation of jet engines with alternative fuels.
The project will focus on providing tools for accurate simulation of combustion of Fischer-Tropsch fuels and biofuels in jet engines, with applications for both commercial and military jet engines.
The project's key objective is to develop a comprehensive set of fundamental data on the combustion of alternative jet fuels, using a surrogate fuel approach, according to Reaction Design.
The results are designed to provide guidance to the planning and design of optimal fuel-production processes.
Fischer-Tropsch fuels are produced from hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which can be developed from either coal or biomass fuel stocks. Combining large American coal reserves with clean technology processes such as Fischer-Tropsch, that convert the coal into liquid fuels that take advantage of coal and agricultural resources, is promoted as increasing U.S. independence from foreign oil, said Reaction Design.
Both the understanding of detailed chemistry and the processing power of computers increased in the last decade, enabling accurate simulation of combustion for enhanced, clean-technology design.
Petroleum fuels, such as kerosene, contain hundreds of different hydrocarbon species that all contribute in specific ways towards ignition, flame propagation and pollutant formation. The traditional technique of simulating these fuels using empirically derived chemistry parameters does not provide the accurate emissions predictions or the necessary detail required for use in design and optimization.
Thus, the development of accurate surrogate fuel models for use in chemical kinetic simulations is a critical step toward enabling computer-aided engine and fuel design for petroleum and alternative fuels alike, said Reaction Design.
The two-year project will be led by Reaction Design with experimental support from researchers at the University of Southern California. Detailed chemical kinetics models will be developed and validated with experimental data to allow prediction of important parameters related to ignition, extinction and pollutant formation for Fischer-Tropsch fuels and biofuels.
"This project is a critical step in enabling the production and use of non-petroleum based fuels for jet engines and reducing our country's dependence on oil for commercial and military air transportation," said Reaction Design Marketing Director Scott Drennan.
Source: Reaction Design.