Methanol can be considered a high-density energy carrier, directly combustible or usable as a platform molecule for subsequent synthesis. To assess its properties and its adequacy for energy storage and transportation within the future energy infrastructure, various projects are dedicated to methanol at the Institute for Sustainable Mobile Powertrains at the Technical University of Munich.
Our contribution presents an overview of these different research topics. Experimental investigations of methanol combustion with a single cylinder research engine are thereby closely coupled with simulative approaches. The targets of the numerical approaches are to gain better understanding of the measured phenomena as well as predictively generating promising engine designs and operation strategies.
With a single-cylinder engine test bench, facilitating easy access for setup changes, early combustion process development is carried out. On the one hand, combustion of methanol comes with the advantage of employing a fuel of high knock resistance. Consequently, efficiency increase is facilitated via leveling up the compression ratio. Furthermore, combustion of lean mixtures in combination with advanced injection strategies have proven to be a further lever to gain efficiency. With the absence of carbon-to-carbon bonds inside methanol’s molecular structure, the level of particle emissions can be remarkably reduced. Engine oil ingress to the combustion chamber can compromise this advantage of methanol combustion. To make the most use of a soot-free combusting fuel, the reduction of engine oil ingress is a further focus of the work at the institute.