Scientists Discover Fire-Safe Fuel Innovation: Safer and Resistant to Accidental Fires

KOMPAS.com – Conventional fuels that we often use every day, such as gasoline and diesel, have a high risk of fire and explosion. However, recently, scientists discovered a fire-safe fuel innovation.

Generally, fuel contains chemical compounds that are highly flammable.

However, new discoveries made by scientists from the University of California-Riverside found fuel that is safer than conventional fuel.

Also read: Is it true that fossil fuels come from dinosaurs?

Fire resistant fuel

Chemical engineers from the University of California-Riverside have succeeded in designing a unique type of fuel, which will only burn when exposed to an electric current, as quoted by Science Daily on Tuesday (3/10/2023).

This finding offers many advantages, one of which is a high level of security. This fuel does not react to open flames, making it resistant to possible accidental fires when stored or transported.

“The fuel we normally use is not very safe. It evaporates and can burn, and it’s hard to stop it,” said Yujie Wang, a UCR chemical engineering doctoral student and co-author of a new paper on the fuel.

“Controlling this fuel so that it doesn’t catch fire is simpler and can be stopped by turning off the voltage,” he continued.

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Discovery of refractory fuel

The basis of this new fuel is an ionic liquid, which is a form of molten salt.

“The liquid we used in this project has a lower melting point than table salt, low vapor pressure, and organic elements,” Wang said.

After conducting experiments in the laboratory, the team changed the ionic liquid formula by replacing chlorine with perchlorate.

Next, they used a cigarette lighter to test whether the resulting liquid was flammable.

“As soon as we turn off the current, the flame goes out, and we can repeat the process over and over – apply voltage, observe the smoke, light the smoke until it burns, then turn it off,” Wang said.

“We were very excited to find a system that we could turn on and off very quickly,” he continued.

Adding a higher voltage to the liquid will produce a larger fire with a higher energy output.

Also read: 4 Negative Impacts of Using Fossil Fuels on the Environment

Thus, this approach can also function as a regulation or throttling system on the engine.

Theoretically, ionic liquid fuels can be used in all types of vehicles.

However, there are still several questions that need to be answered before it can be commercialized. These fuels need to be tested in various types of engines, and their efficiency must be determined.

Cause of flammable fuel

Reporting from Study Finds, Tuesday (3/10/2023), when fuel burns, it is not the liquid itself that burns.

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Instead, it is a volatile fuel molecule that floats above a liquid that ignites when it comes into contact with oxygen and a flame.

Removing the oxygen source will extinguish the fire, but this is difficult to do outside the engine.

“If you throw a match into a puddle of gasoline on the ground, that’s burning gas vapor. You can smell the vapor and you’ll know immediately that it’s volatile,” said Prithwish Biswas, UCR chemical engineering doctoral student and first author of the paper .

“If you can control the vapor, you can control whether the fuel will burn or not,” Biswas added.

Also read: Fossil Fuel Air Pollution Killed 8 Million People in 2018

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2023-10-03 23:30:00
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