Experimental assessment of performance, emission and lube oil deterioration using gasoline and LPG for a sustainable environment

Abstract

The unfavorable environmental hazards by conventional fuels like gasoline have stirred scientists to pursue less detrimental and more effective fuels. Mostly, the oxygenated and biofuels produced higher CO2 and NOx emissions due to improved combustion. These greenhouse gases are mainly responsible for global warming which is considered a serious environmental threat nowadays. Therefore, efforts need to be rendered to look for such alternative fuels which not only improve engine efficiency but also reduce hazardous emissions. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has long been considered for improved engine performance and reduced harmful emissions. However, rare efforts have been made to evaluate fuel efficiency by assessing the damage imparted to lubricating oil. This existing gap has been filled by a thorough assessment of performance, manifold emissions, and the wearing of lube oil using gasoline and LPG in spark ignition (SI) engines. The fuels were investigated through vital parameters: brake power (BP), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), brake thermal efficiency (BTE), and exhaust emissions. Although LPG showed average lessened BSFC (15.13%) and increased BTE (14.34%), the gasoline kept itself in the competition by producing average 23.74% higher brake power. All the hazardous tailpipe emissions improved considerably for LPG. Similarly, the degradation of physical and chemical properties, the concentration of metallic particles, and the depletion rate of additives also favoured the gaseous fuel. The statistical significance of performance and emission terms with speed was figured out using the Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient (R). BSFC and hydrocarbon Pearson concentration emerged negatively correlated to speed with values of −0.813 and - 0.996, respectively, for LPG.