9.8.4 Nitromethane
Description
This article is from the Gasoline FAQ, by Bruce Hamilton with numerous contributions by others.
9.8.4 Nitromethane
Nitromethane ( CH3NO2) - usually used as a mixture with methanol to reduce
peak flame temperatures - also provides excellent increases in volumetric
efficiency of IC engines - in part because of the lower stoichiometric
air-fuel ratio (1.7:1 for CH3NO2) and relatively high heats of vaporisation
( 0.56 MJ/kg for CH3NO2) result in dramatic cooling of the incoming charge.
4CH3NO2 + 3O2 -> 4CO2 + 6H20 + 2N2
The nitromethane Specific Energy at stoichiometric ( heat of combustion
divided by air-fuel ratio ) of 6.6, compared to 2.9 for iso-octane,
indicates that the fuel energy delivered to the combustion chamber is
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