Innovative fuel injection system for dimethyl ether
Alternative fuels can help Europe reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases as well as noxious air pollutants. Dimethyl ether, or DME, is a promising alternative fuel that can be produced from natural gas, or better yet from renewable biomass. There are, however, technical obstacles which must be overcome before DME can be considered a viable option. The AFFORHD project brought together vehicle manufacturers, research institutes and powertrain specialists to produce a DME-powered demonstration vehicle for the heavy-duty market. The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), an AFFORHD partner, contributed by developing a new fuel feed pump. DME is not self-lubricating and is therefore not compatible with conventional fuel injection components such as gaskets and o-rings. The solution was a design that relies on hydraulics instead of sliding parts. TNO also succeeded in eliminating electronic components from the DME feed pump. The pump, which has a capacity of 2.2 litres of fuel per minute, was subsequently incorporated into a heavy-duty vehicle. Five tanks supply DME to the truck's engine at high pressure (15 bars). Tests confirmed the feasibility of the technology, consequently the AFFORHD consortium is moving forward with the DME vehicle. It should be mentioned that the new fuel feed pump can also be used with other gaseous fuels, such as liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
