Performance Evaluation of Petrol-Ethanol Blends and Testing on Multicylinder 4-Stroke SI Engine

Abstract

The usage of different alcohols as a fuel for spark ignition (SI) engines has been in progress since the invention of engine, with ethanol being renewable, bio-based and ecofriendly is the best replacement for petrol as fuel in SI engines. Ethanol is derived basically from sugarcane, cassava, corn and other waste biomass materials. The choice of ethanol as a fuel is due to the positive influence on engine performance due to higher evaporation heat, octane number and flammability with reduced emissions. In the current study of the feasibility of using ethanol as a probable replacement for petrol, experiments were performed on a multicylinder, 4-stroke SI engine using blends of ethanol and gasoline (E10, E20, E30 and E40) by variation of ignition timing, relative A/F ratio and compression ratio at a constant speed of 2000 rpm. The effects of various blends on engine torque, specific fuel consumption and emissions were experimentally evaluated and it was found that among the four blends tested, E20 produced the best thermal and mechanical efficiency of 34% and 92.77%, respectively. The CO and HC emissions were found to be 4.22% and 780 ppm, respectively.

Keywords: SI engine, ethanol, emissions, efficiency

Cite this Article

Joshi SM, Krishna R, Patil BA, Gangal AC. Performance Evaluation of Petrol-Ethanol blends and testing on multi cylinder 4-stroke SI engine. Journal of Alternate Energy Sources and Technologies. 2015; 6(1): 41–45p.