Engine Technology for Alternative Fuels

Within the next decade there is opportunity to bring about favorable matching of engines to fuels that can be made available. The effort should be one of parallel experiment and iterative adjustment in the separate but technically-interactive fields of engine and fuels development.

The author suggests that engine development should be directed toward utilization of alcohols as well as fuels that are basically traditional in character but trend toward lower combustion quality and toward extended boiling range. Improved but still-traditional power plants, a stratified-charge engine for broad-cut fuels, and the slow-speed diesel for heavy minimally refined fuels are suggested as the engine technologies for development toward the most advantageous use of alternative fuels.