Performance and combustion characteristics of alcohol–gasoline blends at wide-open throttle

Abstract

This study discusses the performance and exhaust emissions of a vehicle fueled with low content alcohol (ethanol and methanol) blends and pure gasoline. The vehicle tests were performed at wide-open throttle and at vehicle speeds of 40 km h −1, 60 km h −1, 80 km h −1 and 100 km h −1 by using an eddy current chassis dynamometer. The test results obtained with the use of alcohol–gasoline blends (5 and 10 percent alcohol by volume) were compared to pure gasoline test results. The test results indicated that when the vehicle was fueled with alcohol–gasoline blends, the peak wheel power and fuel consumption slightly increased. And also, in general, alcohol–gasoline blends provided higher combustion efficiency compared to pure gasoline use. In exhaust emission results, a stable trend was not seen, especially for CO emission. But, on average, alcohol–gasoline blends exhibited decreasing HC emissions. In 100 km h −1 vehicle speed test, the alcohol–gasoline blends provided lower vehicle performance and lower NO x emission values compared to pure gasoline. At all vehicle speeds, minimum CO 2 emission was obtained when 5% methanol was added in gasoline. The low content alcohol blends did not reveal any starting problem, or irregular operation on the engine.