Internal combustion engines are widely used in transportation sector due to their reliability, durability, and high efficiency. Further, they will be the main powertrains for vehicle and marine in the next 50 years according to the various studies. However, the development of engines is faced with some serious challenges, such as the stringent emission regulations, petroleum energy supply, and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as other challenges in the future. Therefore, we need to develop some advanced combustion technologies to reduce the pollutant emissions. Meanwhile, to prevent global warming, we need to improve the thermal efficiencies of engines, thus reducing CO ₂ emissions and saving petroleum oil. In addition, the alternative biofuels have recently gained significant political and scientific interest owing to the concerns about climate change, global energy security, and petroleum supply shortage in the foreseeable future.

We invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles that will stimulate the continuing efforts to understand the progress on the production of petroleum oil and its alternatives and the application of petroleum oil and its alternatives on internal combustion engines. We are particularly interested in articles describing the new production methods on petroleum oil and its alternatives, the effects of different fuel physical and chemical properties on engine combustion and emissions, and the combustion chemistry on petroleum oil and its alternatives.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Production of petroleum oil and its alternatives such as ethanol, biodiesel, butanol, and 2,5-dimethylfuran
• Combustion and emissions of petroleum oil and its alternatives on I.C. engines
• Biofuels preparation, combustion chemistry, and engine application
• Development of petroleum oil surrogates for combustion chemical kinetics