A Comparison of Ethanol, Methanol, and Butanol Blending with Gasoline and Its Effect on Engine Performance and Emissions Using Engine Simulation

Abstract

Air pollution, especially in large cities around the world, is associated with serious problems both with people’s health and the environment. Over the past few years, there has been a particularly intensive demand for alternatives to fossil fuels, because when they are burned, substances that pollute the environment are released. In addition to the smoke from fuels burned for heating and harmful emissions that industrial installations release, the exhaust emissions of vehicles create a large share of the fossil fuel pollution. Alternative fuels, known as non-conventional and advanced fuels, are derived from resources other than fossil fuels. Because alcoholic fuels have several physical and propellant properties similar to those of gasoline, they can be considered as one of the alternative fuels. Alcoholic fuels or alcohol-blended fuels may be used in gasoline engines to reduce exhaust emissions. This study aimed to develop a gasoline engine model to predict the influence of different types of alcohol-blended fuels on performance and emissions. For the purpose of this study, the AVL Boost software was used to analyse characteristics of the gasoline engine when operating with different mixtures of ethanol, methanol, butanol, and gasoline (by volume). Results obtained from different fuel blends showed that when alcohol blends were used, brake power decreased and the brake specific fuel consumption increased compared to when using gasoline, and CO and HC concentrations decreased as the fuel blends percentage increased.