Impact of alcohol-gasoline fuel blends on the performance and combustion characteristics of an SI engine

In this study, the effects of ethanol-gasoline (E5, E10) and methanol-gasoline (M5, M10) fuel blends on the performance and combustion characteristics of a spark ignition (SI) engine were investigated. In the experiments, a vehicle having a four-cylinder, four-stroke, multi-point injection system SI engine was used. The tests were performed on a chassis dynamometer while running the vehicle at two different vehicle speeds (80 km/h and 100 km/h), and four different wheel powers (5, 10, 15, and 20 kW). The results obtained from the use of alcohol-gasoline fuel blends were compared to those of gasoline fuel. The results indicated that when alcohol-gasoline fuel blends were used, the brake specific fuel consumption increased; cylinder gas pressure started to rise later than gasoline fuel. Almost in the all test conditions, the lowest peak heat release rate was obtained from the gasoline fuel use. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.