Effects of Bioadditives and Commercial Additive on the Performance and Exhaust Emissions of a Gasoline Engine

Abstract

One of our era’s greatest scourges is air pollution, on account not only of its impact on climate change but also its impact on public and individual health due to increasing morbidity and mortality. However, future climate change may exacerbate such human health impacts by increasing the frequency and duration of weather conditions that enhance the exposure to air pollution. Jakarta’s expanding fleet of motor vehicles is a key target of urgently needed actions to curb the hazardous air pollution in the city. This paper highlights the technologies and policies to reduce direct emissions from new and in-use cars, trucks, and buses in the city. Such policies, coupled with the promotion of mass transit, non-motorized transport, and other smart growth measures aimed at reducing transport demand, can significantly diminish the adverse effects of transportation on local air quality and public health in Jakarta, and spur similar actions across Indonesia. One of them is the addition of bioadditives (essential oils) and commercial additives that are widely sold in the market. In this study, the effects of essential oils (citronella oil and clove oil) as bioadditives and commercial additive on the performance and exhaust emissions of a single-cylinder, four-stroke gasoline engine was investigated, where both oils were blended with gasoline with a research octane number of 88. Based on the results, the maximum reduction in fuel consumption (33.33%) was obtained at an engine load of 43% when pure gasoline (G88) was blended with 0.1% of citronella oil and 0.1% of clove oil. This test fuel was labelled as BA2. The average reduction in fuel consumption was 18.54% for this test fuel. The thermal efficiency of the BA2 blend was higher even though it had the lowest volumetric efficiency compared with other blends. The unburned hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide emissions for the G88 fuel were 7 ppm and 0.202%, respectively, whereas the values were 20 ppm and 0.289%, respectively for the G88 fuel blended with Cleanoz commercial additive (CA1 blend). The HC and CO emissions were 11 ppm and 0.386%, respectively, for the G88 fuel blended with 0.1% of patchouli oil and 0.1% of clove oil (BA1 blend) whereas the values were 26 ppm and 0.631%, respectively, for the BA2 blend. Even though the BA2 blend had the highest HC and CO emissions, the values were still below the permissible limits for automotive vehicles in Indonesia.