A new study published in Combustion and Flame has demonstrated the ability to induce a unique fuel property, called intermediate temperature heat release (ITHR), in fuels that would not conventionally exhibit this property. Prior research has shown that the existence of ITHR allows high power and high efficiency operating conditions to be achieved in low temperature combustion engines (such as HCCI), however prior research has focused on fuels with larger molecules such as gasoline. The new research provides an understanding of the chemical pathways enabling ITHR and shows that it is possible to induce ITHR even in smaller, and harder to ignite molecules such as ethanol.