代用燃料(英文).doc

Alternative Fuels for the Automobile Transport of the 21st century Abstract ：As a developing and the most populous country in the world, China faces major challenges in energy supply and environmental protection. It is of great importance to develop clean and alternative fuels for internal combustion engines. On the basis of researches on DME engine and vehicle at Shanghai Jiaotong University in the last twelve years, fuel injection, combustion, performance and exhaust emissions of DME engine and DME vehicle are introduced in this paper. The results indicate that DME engines can achieve high thermal efficiency and ultra low emissions, and will play a significant role in meeting the energy demand while minimizing environmental impact in China. Keywords： dimethyl ether (DME), fuel injection, combustion process, emission control, CI engine, vehicle 1 Introduction Dimethyl ether (DME), whose chemical formula is CH3–O– CH3, is the simplest ethercompound and has been known to be both non-toxic and environmentally benign. DME can be made from a wide variety of resources including coal, coalbed methane, natural gas and biomass etc. Forengine use, DME has a high cetane number of approximately 55–60, which makes DME ideal for use in a compression ignition (CI) engine. The chemical structure of DME with itshigh oxygen content promises a smoke-free combustion. DME is a relatively new alternative fuel for engine andvehicle. Researches on DME as fuel were initiated in 1995. Denmark Technical University, Haldor Topsoe A/S, Navistar, AVL, AMOCO etc. conducted extensive investigations on CI engines fueled with DME. Results show that DME will be a potential and promising fuel for more efficient andcleaner engine and vehicle [1–8]. As a developing and the most populous country in the world, China faces major challenges of energy supply and environmental protection. It is of great importance to develop clean and alternative fuels for internal combustion engines and vehicles. DME will