Oct 23 2007
Reaction Design today announced that two of the world’s premier energy companies, Petrobras and Saudi Aramco, are the latest additions to the membership of the Model Fuels Consortium (MFC).
Through their membership, the companies will support the consortium’s charter to develop, validate and apply advanced simulation methods that can improve engine and fuel design resulting in increased fuel efficiencies and reduced emissions. Petrobras and Saudi Aramco join current members, Chevron and Conoco-Phillips, giving the consortium strong representation from forward-thinking clean energy providers. Additional members of the MFC include Cummins Engine Company, Dow Chemical Company, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, L’Institut Français du Pétrole, Mazda, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PSA Peugeot Citroën, and Toyota.
“The addition of Petrobras and Saudi Aramco, two of the largest energy producers in the world, brings great insight and support to our consortium,” said Bernie Rosenthal, CEO of Reaction Design. “I commend these companies for their commitment to the advancement of knowledge and development of vital tools for clean fuel production and combustion.”
Launched in 2005, Reaction Design’s MFC directs the expertise and resources of fuel producers, engine manufacturers and automakers toward a shared agenda: to develop the model fuels that are essential to accurate simulation of the complex chemical processes that drive combustion. The MFC’s stakeholders face regulatory and economic pressures to meet increasingly stringent emissions standards and demanding fuel efficiency requirements – circumstances that have also given rise to developmental fuels and new engine technologies they must master.
“Joining the Model Fuels Consortium will enable Petrobras to work closely with the world’s leading engine producers to design and produce the most efficient and environmentally friendly fuels,” said Alipio Ferreira Pinto, Jr., Downstream R&D General Manager.
“Saudi Aramco is committed to developing energy products to support clean combustion technology and the work of the MFC provides valuable tools and scientific understanding for us to achieve our goals,” said Ahmar Ghauri, Internal Combustion Engine Scientist. “Saudi Aramco has observed the significant achievements of the MFC since its inception and we look forward to collaborating with Reaction Design and our fellow members to achieve the objectives of the MFC.”
To manage the ever-expanding range of design options and their inherent tradeoffs, engine and fuel developers have boosted their reliance on combustion simulation, thereby reducing their dependence on costly and increasingly inadequate empirical tests. Through the MFC’s work, simulation will continue to grow in value and reliability as a design tool.
Model fuels are a carefully chosen mix of a few pure chemicals that together mimic the combustion behavior in computer simulations of the much more chemically complex commercial fuels. Once validated, the model fuels accurately simulate combustion, allowing fuel and engine designers to optimize engine performance and emissions control faster and at less cost than with traditional physical fuel/engine testing. Developing validated fuel surrogates and associated computer simulation tools are the main focus of the consortium.
Reaction Design now has fuel mechanism development projects covering most fuels of interest to the transportation and energy production markets. The MFC is focuses on gasoline and diesel fuel combinations while separate research projects sponsored by NASA and the US Department of Energy are underway to investigate the clean combustion of biofuels and Fischer-Tropsch fuels for jet engines and autos, respectively. Through the breadth of its involvement in these fuel mechanism development initiatives, Reaction Design provides expertise in extensively validated fuel mechanisms and software tools that provide engine and fuel producers effective simulation required for clean combustion technology development.
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