BIOGAS AS AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL FOR AUTOMOTIVE TRANSPORT IN MOUNTAIN AREAS

Abstract

The potential of low-calorie gases, in particular, biogas, which Ukrainian agriculture and industry produce in significant quantities, is almost never used here. The number of available domestic facilities for recycling such gases is scanty, although, in most developed countries, the significant number of such factories is operating. Landfill biogas is one of the promising energy sources, still, today, it is either emitted into the atmosphere, polluting it, or burned in flares. The use of biogas as fuel in automotive internal combustion engines is not sufficiently studied. However, the substitution of gasoline for biogas reduces engine power and increases fuel consumption. Especially this should be taken into account when operating vehicles in mountainous terrain under the conditions of reduced atmospheric pressure and temperature. Nevertheless, researching how mountain conditions can influence the performance of biogas-powered automobile engines is not given enough attention yet in Ukraine and in the world. Operation of cars on the mountain roads of the Carpathian region at the altitudes of 1000 ÷ 2000 m above sea level with rises and descents up to 12% and the section length up to 10 ÷ 15 km is difficult. The higher is the level of the terrain above the sea, the lower become the atmospheric pressure, air density and temperature, which deteriorates the filling of the car engine cylinders. The engine cooling rate decreases because of the air dilution and small speeds on steep slopes. Simultaneously, running engines on an excessively enriched fuel-air mixture and moving mainly in lower gears lead to engine overheating. Under the mountainous terrain conditions, Air to Boil temperature decreases. As we know the blend composition of biogas, it is possible to calculate its combustion value as well as the combustion value of the gas-air mixtures. Based on analytical research, we have plotted some graphs that reflect the dependence of the changes in the effective power and effective specific biogas consumption on the changes in ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure.