ПРО ЗАКОРДОННИЙ ДОСВІД ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ БЕНЗИНОВИХ СУМІШЕЙ ІЗ СЕРЕДНІМ ТА ВИСОКИМ УМІСТОМ ЕТАНОЛУ ЯК АВТОМОБІЛЬНОГО ПАЛЬНОГО (ОГЛЯД)

Abstract

A retrospective look at the use of alcohol fuel for the propulsion of automotive machinery with internal combustion engines allows us to talk about a rather long world practice in this area. However, a serious interest in etha-nol as a motor fuel began to rise after the world oil crisis of 1973 and especially within the later decades. The field of application of ethanol in road transport is largely determined by its physical and chemical properties, many of which are broadly knowт; but even experts are less acquainted with some others. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the use of gasoline blends with medium and high ethanol content for motor vehicles, which has caused the need for serious research in this area. In particular, research and testing works are required to determine the influence of ethanol-gasoline blends use on motor vehicle systems and component’s durability, as well as environmental impacе of such fuels broad application. Overall, from the viewpoint of the practice on operating internal combustion engines and motor vehi-cles in general, which may be at least a temporary solution in the strategic development of road transport, the use of gasoline with rather high ethanol content may have its drawbacks. Therefore, in this article it is considered some pro-spects and problems in large-scale usage of motor fuel with medium and high ethanol content in a number of world countries. The regulatory and scientific-and-technological preconditions for the use of such automotive fuel are dis-cussed. Some results of research and tesings in a number of countries regarding the impact of using fuel with medium and high ethanol content on the durability of engines/wheeled vehicles and on the ambient air are also presented. The conclusion is that not only laboratory research, but more comprehensive road testing is required to define the real op-portunities and challenges in this area. Keywords: ethanol, gasoline blends, wheeled vehicle, internal combustion engine. hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO); nitrogen oxides (Nox); particulate matters (PM); thre-way catalytic converter; durability of vehicle’s components.