As described in the title, Wabtec and Vale have signed an agreement to test methanol locomotives. This is the first time that Wabtec will use methanol in locomotives.
Vale and locomotive manufacturer Wabtec Corporation [NYSE: WAB] have announced a partnership to study a dual-fuel engine capable of running on both diesel and a diesel-ethanol blend. The studies will initially be conducted in laboratories to validate the concept and evaluate performance, emissions reduction, and ethanol/diesel substitution rate. The tests are expected to run through 2027 to assess future application in the VitĂłria-Minas Railway (EFVM) fleet.
Methanol is âwood alcoholâ, CH3OH, poisonous to humans and corrosive to many parts. Importantly it is primarily sourced from petroleum, hence anathema even to zero-net-carbon types.
The fuel alcohol in question is ETHANOL, âbeverage alcoholâ, C2H5OH, and the reason this is important is that Brazil has a very large infrastructure currently producing ethanol as a motor fuel. At present this has to be co-fired with about 5% pilot-injected diesel to light off reliably in a compression-ignition engine, much as natural gas currently is; there have been experiments with spark-and laser-assisted promotion and ignition to get around this, and I believe even âuntreatedâ B100 (e.g. 100% from renewable sources like rapeseed oil) otherwise not well suited for use in diesel or CIDI engines can be used for this purpose â it being promoted or combusted for flameholding, etc. preferentially in the oxygen-rich initial charge before much of the ethanol has begun to react, so the carbon backbone does not cause the usual sorts of gunk formation.
At present, I suspect the ethanol will be âinjectedâ into the intake charge air (helping with inter- or postcooling as it goes) much like the water/methanol in a Snow water-injection system is. That eliminates the need for a separate high-pressure injection system for the âdual fuelâ even if the fuel is metered analogous to throttle-body or port injection in automobiles, much closer to ambient pressure.
This came to be fairly common with the older âunbreakableâ Mercedes OM (oelmotoren) series, with mechanical injection. Those had enough clearance in the injectors that âwarmedâ WVO (âwaste vegetable oilâ would flow and atomize properly âenoughâ to run.
There were a couple of issues. The waste oil wouldnât flow when cold, and wouldnât atomize correctly even with glowing in a cold engine, so you started and warmed up on fuel diesel, and switched over when running. The system wasnât too tolerant of water or other material in the oil, so you really had to run the oil through a separator (as with waste motor oil for steam locomotives) to avoid overwhelming your water separator. The big unsung problem â which I suspect will be familiar to CMStP&P if he knows grills â is that they are often cleaned with abrasive blocks or mesh, and there is no way to detect this readily by looking at the WVO as it goes in the tank. That is often fines or a hard abrasive like silicon carbide, and it will do a number on the machined components of the injection pump and injectors/nozzles over time.
The real issue is that neither the WVO nor the fine contaminants are compatible with modern common-rail high-pressure injection systems, especially if the composition of the oil has been degraded by heating. In theory the oil could be treated the way B100 biodiesel is, and given an appropriate additive package for lubrication (as for ULSD diesel fuel) â but the fines and chemical degradation ore harder to remove.
The other fun thing is that this was nifty when you were the only diesel car in town, and you offered to take the waste oil off the restaurantâs hands for them. As it became increasingly known that waste oil was a âsalableâ commodity â remember UPâs experience with residual oil as a turbine fuel? â both the availabilith and the âfreeâ aspect increasingly went awayâŚ
Several weeks ago, locally, there was a story about local thieves stealing a truck load of waste cooking oil. There appears to be both white and black markets for the commodity.
lol Just remembered reading about how back in WW2 sailors were making homebrews using the 180 proof grain alcohol fuel from the torpedoes. Now Iâm picturing train crews using the ethanol to do the same thing. Party in the caboose, boys!