Ken SATOKAWA of the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, has won an award at the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan
Ken Satokawa, a second-year master’s student in the Applied Chemistry Area of the Department of Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, has received the Outstanding Presentation Award at the 2026 JSAE Spring Congress, presented by the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan (JSAE).
The award is presented at the JSAE Spring Congress, one of Japan’s largest academic conferences in the automotive and mobility fields. Recipients are selected based on evaluations by audience members and session chairs, who assess the quality of the oral presentation, presentation slides, and research paper. Final selections are made following deliberation by the Academic Program Committee. As a highly competitive honor, the award is granted to only about 2% of all presenters. In fiscal year 2026, a total of eight recipients were selected, including four from industry and four from academia. Satokawa was the only student among the awardees.
The award recognized his presentation entitled “Evaluation of the Base Fuel Dependence of ETBE Ignition Suppression Effects Using a High-Pressure Shock Tube.”
Regarding the award, Satokawa commented:
“I am deeply honored to receive this prestigious award as the culmination of my graduate research journey. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the faculty members who have guided me throughout my studies, my laboratory colleagues who worked alongside me, and the Japan Petroleum Energy Center and the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association for their support in conducting this research.
Beginning next April, I will take a new step forward as an engineer engaged in automotive development. I will continue to value the spirit of inquiry and the willingness to embrace challenges that I cultivated through my research at the university, striving to become an engineer who can contribute technologies that bring greater enjoyment and enrichment to people’s lives.”
- Name of Conference：Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan
- Title of Award：2026 JSAE Annual Congress (Spring) – Excellent Technical Paper Presentation Awards
- Achievement Subject：Evaluation of Base-Fuel Dependence on Ignition-Suppression Effect of ETBE Using a High-Pressure Shock Tube
- Name of Award Recipient：Ken Satokawa
- Name of Instructor：Professor Kazuo Takahashi (Faculty of Science and Technology)
- Date of Award Decision：09-Jul-26 (Date of Award Received : 27-May-2027)
- Site Related：Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan
Research Purpose
ETBE, a promising carbon-neutral (CN) fuel, can help suppress abnormal combustion (knocking) in engines and improve their environmental performance. This study investigated the combustion and ignition characteristics of several next-generation gasoline candidates blended with ETBE and compared its effects with those of ethanol, another carbon-neutral fuel.
Research Contents
Using a high-pressure shock tube to reproduce engine conditions, we found that ETBE and ethanol differ in how they suppress autoignition (knocking) and how their effects vary with the type of gasoline. Large-scale computer simulations also revealed the molecular reasons for these differences. These findings will help guide the development of next-generation gasoline planned for introduction in 2030.
