EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF METHANOL-ETHANOLGASOLINE BLENDING WITH ISO-BUTANOL ADDITIVE ON THE SPARK-IGNITION ENGINE

Abstract

Nowadays, alternative fuels for internal combustion engines (IC) have gained traction due to environmental concerns and the necessity to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Iso-butanol is an alternative fuel with low emissions that can be used in IC engines. The performance and emissions of a single-cylinder spark-ignition (SI) engine running on pure gasoline and iso-butanol additives (iB) at various engine load and blending ratios of EM10, EM10iB3, EM10iB5, and EM10iB10 were investigated experimentally in existing dual ethanol-methanol-gasoline blended fuel (EM10). The calorific value of the fuel sample containing iso-butanol additive is 6.3% higher than that of the EM10 blended fuel. As per engine performance and emissions, iso-butanol additive blended fuel had a better brake power than the EM10 blended fuel, with a mean increase of 3.1%, 1.2%, and 3.8% for the EM10iB3, EM10iB5, and EM10iB10, respectively. The EM10iB5 significantly increased brake thermal efficiency (BTE) by 5.4% higher than EM10 blended fuel. The CO and HC emissions from iso-butanol additive blends were reduced by 1.8% and 7.1%, respectively, compared to EM10 blended fuel. When combined with existing lower ratios of EM10 blended fuel, the iso-butanol additive is found to be a viable alternative fuel for SI engines.Keywords: Dual-alcohol blend, engine performance, emission characteristics, iso-butanol additive, heat of evaporation