Ammonia Gasoline Fuel Blends: Feasibility Study of Commercially Available Emulsifiers and Effects on Stability and Engine Performance

Ammonia and hydrocarbon fuel blends, similar to ethanol and gasoline fuel blends can be used to commercialize ammonia as an alternative fuel. Feasibility of developing ammonia gasoline liquid fuel blends and the use of ethanol and methanol as emulsifiers to enhance the solubility of ammonia in gasoline were studied using thermostated vapor liquid equilibrium (VLE) high pressure cells, in this research. Solubility test results prove that emulsifier free pure gasoline is capable of dissolving 23 g/l of ammonia on mass basis (4.5% of ammonia on volume basis) at 345 kPa pressure and 286.65 K temperature in liquid phase. Solubility level is increased with the use of ethanol and methanol. Gasoline with 10% ethanol can retain 51.4 g/l (11.0% on volume basis) of ammonia in the liquid phase at the same pressure and temperature. Methanol has better emulsifying capabilities. Solubility level of gasoline with 10% methanol is 61.8 g/l (11.0% on volume basis). Better performances are observed when the ammonia rich fuels are benchmarked against baseline fuel especially at higher engine speeds.