An Experimental Investigation of Spark Ignition Engine Fueled with Ethanol/Iso-octane and Methanol/Iso-octane Fuel Blends

Alcohols have been used as a fuel for engines since 19th century. Among the various alcohols, ethanol and methanol are known as the most suited renewable, bio-based and ecofriendly fuel for spark-ignition (SI) engines. The most attractive properties of ethanol and methanol as an SI engine fuel are that it can be produced from renewable energy sources such as sugar, cane, cassava, many types of waste biomass materials, corn and barley. In addition, ethanol has higher evaporation heat, octane number and flammability temperature therefore it has positive influence on engine performance and reduces exhaust emissions. In this study, the effects of unleaded iso-octane, unleaded iso-octane–ethanol blend (E10) and isooctane-methanol blend (M10) on engine performance were investigated experimentally in a single cylinder four-stroke spark-ignition engine. The tests were performed by varying the throttle position, engine speed and loads. Three sets of observations were recorded at (1301 rpm, 16.8 Kg load), (1468 rpm, 15.8 Kg load) and (1544 rpm, 10 Kg load) for all tested fuels. The results of the engine test showed that IP, IMEP, Volumetric efficiency and thermal efficiency was higher for the E10 fuel and BSFC was lower. In general, most suited blend for SI engines has been specified as a blend of 10% ethanol. It was also observed that better performance was recorded during second set of observation for all the tested fuels. It was also found that ethanol–gasoline blends allow increasing compression ratio (CR) without knock occurrence.