SBIR Phase I: Continuous Water in Fuel Emulsification to Decrease Fuel Consumption and Increase Brake Thermal Efficiency in a Diesel Engine for Maritime Application

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The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to enable maritime shipping companies around the world to decrease their energy consumption costs and improve greenhouse gas emissions. The economic benefits are substantial since almost half of maritime shipping operating costs are related to fuel consumption. The expected outcome of this project is a technology that will be retrofitted to existing shipping fleets to increase fuel efficiency while decreasing environmentally harmful emissions. This project seeks to improve thermal efficiency of fuel distillates, ranging from diesel to heavy fuel oil, by using water in fuel emulsions. The technical approach involves the development of process to continuously and consistently achieve a homogeneous emulsion that can efficiently ignite inside an internal combustion engine. An inline system for immediate consumption will be developed to mitigate phase separation and droplet agglomeration. The novel emulsion will provide adequate heat content, lubricity, and low corrosivity comparable to standard water-free fuel. The increased thermal efficiency will in part contribute to efforts by the maritime industry to achieve their goals of reducing CO2 emissions per transport work by at least 40% by 2030, pursuing efforts towards 70% by 2050.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.