ALTERNATIVE FUELS FOR SPARK-IGNITION ENGINES

Toward the end of this century the shortfall of supply below demand of the products of natural crude oil will become severe. Research is already well under way to provide alternative fuels for spark-ignition engines which will be independent of natural crude oil. These include fuels from oil shales and tar sands, as well as synthetic fuels, alcohols, and gases; sources include coal, natural gas and biological origins. These fuels will cost two to three times as much in real terms as gasoline from oil does now, so an even stronger emphasis on fuel economy will be required. Most of these alternative fuels are more suited to the spark-ignition engine than the compression-ignition engine, and this paper predicts that the changeover to them will cause an increase rather than a decrease in the market penetration of the spark-ignition engine. It is concluded that the alternative fuel most likely to gain general acceptance is synthetic gasoline made from coal or natural gas, or in some areas from agricultural by-products.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01487191
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Reprinted from SP-559 Alternate Fuels for Spark Ignition Engines. Fuels and Lubricants Meeting San Francisco, California, October 31-November 3, 1983.
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

  400 Commonwealth Drive
  Warrendale, PA  United States  15096
• Authors:
  • Thring, R H
• Publication Date: 1983

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 16 p.
• Serial:
  • SAE Technical Paper
  • Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
  • ISSN: 0148-7191
  • EISSN: 2688-3627
  • Serial URL: http://papers.sae.org/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohol fuels; Alternate fuels; Coal; Crude oil; Demand; Fuel conservation; Gases; Markets; Natural gas; Oil shales; Spark ignition engines; Supply; Synthetic fuels; Tar sands
• Uncontrolled Terms: Supply and demand
• Old TRIS Terms: Biological source fuels
• Subject Areas: Energy; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00387436
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAE 831685 Reprint, HS-036 793
• Files: HSL, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 30 1984 12:00AM