Camelina[edit source]
I'm wondering whether very lean biofuels such as camelina, babassu oil, castor oil, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attalea_speciosa oil, ... (used in aircraft) could be used in petrol engines (not diesel engines) ? KVDP 04:17, 30 March 2012 (PDT)
- I dont think that any plant oil would be suitable for a gasoline engine. Gasoline (spark ignition) engines require a fuel that will ignite from a spark. I'm not aware of any plant oils that would work be lean enough to be used. The aircraft engines using biofuels from these plants are jet engines and would normally run an aviation fuel which when compared to diesel fuel or petrol would be much more similar to diesel fuel. I know people who have used such fuel in compressed ignition diesel engines with added lubricant to ensure adequate lubrication of the fuel injection equipment.--Darren 13:43, 3 April 2012 (PDT)
- Intresting, I didn't knew aircraft biofuels were different from regular IC biofuels, btw jet engines will probably burn pretty much anyhing anyway (they burn much hotter, more complete incineration), but then again they're very pricy, so using better fuels to avoid wear of the engine makes sense. Perhaps that if the biofuels are carefully chosen (very lean biofuels) in combination with an additive (ie oxyhydrogen, ...) it may be possible.
91.182.165.43 00:16, 18 August 2012 (PDT)
- Suggest you look at cetane / octane (ignition properties of fuels for Compressed Ignition CI or SI (spark) engines.
- There are however many many factors at play, it all gets extremely complicated. Injected fuel spray formation and combustion will vary a lot under different conditions, start to blend fuels and it gets more complex (ie blending small amounts of petrol (a.k.a gas) into vegetable oil fuel appears to aid combustion - even though it should, theoretically lower the cetane of the fuel (the measure of ignition/combustability under compression) --Darren 02:19, 23 August 2012 (PDT)