Japanese researchers consider gelling liquid fuels to increase safety

In Japan, one common hazard when dealing with liquid fuels is that they can evaporate quickly if given space, producing clouds of highly flammable gases. As one might expect, this can lead to catastrophic explosions or fire accidents. To tackle this problem, researchers have considered the use of gelled fuels, or fuels turned into thick gel-like substances from cold temperatures. However, there are many aspects to optimize and hurdles to overcome before gelled fuels can go beyond the research phase.

A team of researchers led researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Japan, recently investigated a more compelling solution to the safety problem of liquid fuels, namely storing them inside polymeric gel networks. In their study, the team analyzed the performance, advantages, and limitations of storing ethanol, a common liquid fuel, within a chemically cross-linked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPPAm) gel. This paper was published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.