Influence of hydrogen peroxide emulsification with gasoline on the emissions and performance in an MPFI engine

Abstract

Spark ignition (SI) engines have been a major contributor from the transportation sector towards the increased emissions to the environment. Modifications to the SI engine like structural modifications, pre, and post-combustion treatments have been investigated in the literature. The use of oxygenated additives to gasoline fuel has been major research interest in curbing the emissions without any significant loss in engine performance. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has not been investigated as an additive in SI engines although its effect is demonstrated for compression ignition (CI) engines. This paper aims to address this gap by ascertaining the influence of H2O2 concentration on SI engine emissions and performance. H2O2 is varied from 0 to 1.5% and the engine speed varied from 1500 to 3000 rpm by operating at a constant load. A total of 16 trials (with three replicates) is carried out. The output responses are brake thermal efficiency (BTE), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), emissions of CO, CO2, HC, and NOx. Artificial neural networks are adopted to ascertain the relation between the inputs and the output responses. Emulsifying gasoline with 1.5% H2O2 resulted in an average reduction of CO and HC emissions by 21.1% and 28.6% respectively with an overall average of 25.3% of reduction in the NOx. The average BTE at all engine speeds increases from 21.6% for G0 to 23.8% for G1.5 and an overall average of 10.5% reduction in BSFC is obtained. The study shows that H2O2 can be employed as an emulsifier to gasoline fuel, however, more rigorous studies are required to ascertain its impact, volatility, and storage.