Outlook of Future Alternative Fuels and New Combustion Technology for IC engines

Increasing consumption of petroleum fuels will eventually force us to utilize synthetic fuels made from renewable sources. This paper, after reviewing the trends of the ways how to make synthetic fuels and new combustion technologies, discusses ideas to raise the thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines (later abbreviated as ICE) to the range of 50%, so that ICE can be competitive with fuel cells whose technologies have been progressing much faster than expected. These ideas include:

1. 1)
   Active radical combustion
2. 2)
   Utilization of endothermic reaction of fuels in compression stroke
3. 3)
   Reduction of thermal dissociation of gases in expansion stroke by lowering combustion gas temperature
4. 4)
   Emulsified fuels (mixture of carbonaceous fuels with water)
5. 5)
   Fuel reforming catalysts.

The emerge of stable emulsified fuels and catalyst which can reform less combustible species of hydrocarbon to a better combustible one, gave a hint to keep ICE competitive with fuel cells.