Study of the Theoretical Potential of Thermochemical Exhaust Heat Recuperation for Internal Combustion Engines

A detailed thermodynamic analysis of thermochemical recuperation (TCR) applied to an idealized internal combustion engine with single-stage work extraction is presented. Results for several different fuels are included. For a stoichiometric mixture of methanol and air, TCR can increase the estimated ideal engine second law efficiency by about 3% for constant pressure reforming and over 5% for constant volume reforming. For ethanol and isooctane, the estimated second law efficiency increases for constant volume reforming are 9 and 11%, respectively. The second law efficiency improvements from TCR result primarily from the higher intrinsic exergy of the reformed fuel and pressure boost associated with the gas mole increase. Reduced combustion irreversibility may also yield benefits for future implementations of combined cycle work extraction.