Testing of Creare’s 500W Compact Burner Prototype Demonstrates Successful Burning of JP-8 Fuel.

Dependence upon foreign oil and global warming are a couple of the issues, in a long list, that have intensified the need and motivation to develop energy alternatives to burning fossil fuels. Alternative energy development is an area of keen interest to Creare engineers and appropriate to the R&D services we offer our clients. And even as the exploration of alternatives accelerates, the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels will continue to play a significant role in meeting the world’s energy needs for the foreseeable future. In particular, hydrocarbon fuels have a far greater energy density than batteries; for example, gasoline has 100X the energy density of the batteries now being used in hybrid vehicles, and there is no acceptable alternative energy currently available for aircraft propulsion, which requires one of the highest of energy densities to operate. While promising alternative energy schemes are emerging, many are still combustion based.

Two areas of combustion research at Creare include energy systems and compact logistics-fueled devices; we are collaborating with several leading universities and government research labs in this effort. The military sponsorship for this work is focused on reducing the consumption of fuel in the field, but ultimately the applications can serve civilian needs for the same reasons, to travel further on less and to use the fuel that is at hand and, ultimately, at lower cost.

Creare’s energy systems research is directed to fuel reforming technologies and fuel-flexible burners for small-scale power generation. The current application is for deployed military power generation. Being able to collect and utilize biofuel feedstocks (switchgrass, for example) in close proximity to maneuvers and deployment stations will reduce the need for transport of fuel and potentially increase safety and even reduce the carbon footprint.

Another area of Creare’s combustion research is compact, logistics-fueled devices. To simplify fuel logistics, the military wants to consolidate combustion systems to operate on a single common fuel (JP-8, or jet engine fuel). JP-8 has low volatility and is very similar to kerosene. Using JP-8 in small scale combustion systems such as camp stoves and small electric generators is difficult due to the low volatility of the fuel. In this project we are developing fuel atomization and vaporization technologies that will enable the use of JP-8 in these small field devices. This same technology could be used commercially to enable small scale devices which can burn vegetable oil!

Over a 100-year period the internal combustion engine has become a mature technology, and yet a new generation of engineers is forcing IC adaptation and evolution in response to the tremendous need to use alternative fuels effectively. While the Mr. Fusion powered DeLorean car, fueled by trash in the movie Back to the Future, remains science fiction, it is completely plausible that the next generation of combustion researchers and engineers will find themselves working on cars with on-board fuel processors that convert biomass into biofuel to power the next generation IC engine.

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