Welcome to FuelLib’s documentation!

The Fuel Library (FuelLib) utilizes the group contribution method (GCM), as developed by Constantinou and Gani[1] [2] in the mid-1990s with additions from Govindaraju and Ihme (2016)[3], to provide a systematic approach for estimating the thermodynamic properties of pure organic compounds and mixtures of organic compounds. If you need help or have questions, please use the GitHub discussion. The source code is available at github.com/NREL/FuelLib.

Citing this work

If you use FuelLib in your research, please cite the following software record:

Montgomery, David, Appukuttan, Sreejith, Yellapantula, Shashank, Perry, Bruce, and Binswanger, Adam. FuelLib (Fuel Library) [SWR-25-26]. Computer Software. https://github.com/NREL/FuelLib. USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO). 27 Feb. 2025. Web. doi:10.11578/dc.20250317.1.

@misc{montgomery_fuellib_2025,
   title = {FuelLib (Fuel Library) [SWR-25-26]},
   author = {Montgomery, David and Appukuttan, Sreejith and Yellapantula, Shashank and Perry, Bruce and Binswanger, Adam},
   abstractNote = {FuelLib is a library that utilizes the group contribution method (GCM) for calculating thermodynamic properties of hydro-carbon jet fuels. FuelLib utilizes the tables and functions of the GCM as proposed by Constantinou and Gani (1994) and Constantinou, Gani and O'Connel (1995), with additional physical properties discussed in Govindaraju & Ihme (2016). The code is based on Pavan B. Govindaraju's Matlab implementation of the GCM, and has been expanded to include additional thermodynamic properties and mixture properties. The fuel library contains gas chromatography (GC x GC) data for a variety of fuels ranging from simple single component fuels to complex jet fuels. The GC x GC data for POSF jet fuels comes from Edwards (2020).},
   doi = {10.11578/dc.20250317.1},
   url = {https://doi.org/10.11578/dc.20250317.1},
   howpublished = {[Computer Software] \url{https://doi.org/10.11578/dc.20250317.1}},
   year = {2025},
   month = {feb}
}

Contents:

• Fuel Property Prediction Model
  • Table of GCM properties
  • Equations for GCM properties
  • Equations for individual compound correlations
    • Kinematic viscosity
    • Latent heat of vaporization
    • Liquid molar volume
    • Density
    • Liquid specific heat capacity
    • Saturated vapor pressure
    • Surface tension
    • Thermal conductivity
  • Equations for mixture properties from GCM
    • Conventional mixing rules
    • Mixture density
    • Mixture kinematic viscosity
    • Mixture vapor pressure
    • Mixture surface tension
    • Mixture thermal conductivity
  • Validation
    • Single Component Fuels
    • Multi-Component Fuels
    • Fuel Blends
  • References
• Source Code
  • FuelLib File Organization
  • Source Code Auto-Documentation
    • FuelLib
      • C2K()
      • K2C()
      • droplet_mass()
      • droplet_volume()
      • fuel
      • mixing_rule()
    • Export4Pele
      • export_pele()
      • main()
      • vec_to_str()
    • Export4Converge
      • export_converge()
      • main()
• Tutorials
  • Introduction
    • Required Input files
    • Basic Usage
  • Exporting GCM Properties for Pele
    • Default Options
    • Additional Options
  • Exporting GCM-Based Mixture Properties for Converge
    • Default Options
    • Additional Options

[1]

Leonidas Constantinou and Rafiqul Gani. New group contribution method for estimating properties of pure compounds. AIChE Journal, 40(10):1697–1710, October 1994. URL: https://aiche.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.690401011 (visited on 2024-07-08), doi:10.1002/aic.690401011.

[2]

Leonidas Constantinou, Rafiqul Gani, and John P. O’Connell. Estimation of the acentric factor and the liquid molar volume at 298 K using a new group contribution method. Fluid Phase Equilibria, 103(1):11–22, January 1995. URL: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/037838129402593P (visited on 2024-07-08), doi:10.1016/0378-3812(94)02593-P.

[3]

Pavan B. Govindaraju and Matthias Ihme. Group contribution method for multicomponent evaporation with application to transportation fuels. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 102:833–845, November 2016. URL: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0017931016309887 (visited on 2024-07-01), doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2016.06.079.