IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v191y2017icp603-619.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ethanol blends in spark ignition engines: RON, octane-added value, cooling effect, compression ratio, and potential engine efficiency gain

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Chongming
  • Zeraati-Rezaei, Soheil
  • Xiang, Liming
  • Xu, Hongming

Abstract

Identifying a sustainable, practical and low-emission energy supply for modern transportation has always been a challenge for energy and automotive researchers. While electrification of the vehicle powertrain is a promising long-term energy supply solution, bio-ethanol is currently playing an important role as a short- and mid-term solution for the popular spark ignition (SI) engine. The questions of how to use ethanol more effectively as an octane booster, how much potential engine thermal efficiency gain can be achieved by using ethanol blends and what their impacts on the vehicle mileage range are have become highly relevant. In this paper, a critical review and discussion regarding these questions is provided. Firstly, studies regarding octane rating and octane index of gasoline fuels, and K value (a scaling factor for calculating octane index) for various SI engines are reviewed. Then, a review of the research octane number (RON), motor octane number (MON) and octane sensitivity for ethanol blends is reported. Three established models for predicting RON of ethanol blends are reviewed and compared. In addition, a simple RON prediction model proposed by the authors of this paper is provided. Parameters such as octane value and octane-added index (OAI) are proposed to describe the effectiveness of using ethanol as an octane booster. It is found that there exits an optimised ethanol blend ratio that gives the maximum octane value; and this optimised blend ratio is insensitive to the octane rating of the base gasoline. Secondly, the charge cooling effect of ethanol blends and its corresponding equivalent octane number are discussed and reviewed. Thirdly, engine thermal efficiency improvement due to increased compression ratios, which results from the octane index gain achieved by using ethanol blends, is reviewed. Finally, a discussion about the impact of ethanol blends on the vehicle mileage range is presented. The lower heating value of ethanol is about 33% lower than that of typical gasoline, leading to a reduction in the mileage range of the vehicle, however, improved engine thermal efficiency achieved by using ethanol blends can partially, or even fully, offset the negative impact of the lower calorific value on the mileage range.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Chongming & Zeraati-Rezaei, Soheil & Xiang, Liming & Xu, Hongming, 2017. "Ethanol blends in spark ignition engines: RON, octane-added value, cooling effect, compression ratio, and potential engine efficiency gain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 603-619.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:191:y:2017:i:c:p:603-619
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.01.081
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261917300946
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.01.081?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel, Ritchie & Xu, Hongming & Wang, Chongming & Richardson, Dave & Shuai, Shijin, 2012. "Combustion performance of 2,5-dimethylfuran blends using dual-injection compared to direct-injection in a SI engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 59-68.
    2. Daniel, Ritchie & Xu, Hongming & Wang, Chongming & Richardson, Dave & Shuai, Shijin, 2013. "Gaseous and particulate matter emissions of biofuel blends in dual-injection compared to direct-injection and port injection," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 252-261.
    3. Balki, Mustafa Kemal & Sayin, Cenk, 2014. "The effect of compression ratio on the performance, emissions and combustion of an SI (spark ignition) engine fueled with pure ethanol, methanol and unleaded gasoline," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 194-201.
    4. Wang, Chongming & Xu, Hongming & Herreros, Jose Martin & Wang, Jianxin & Cracknell, Roger, 2014. "Impact of fuel and injection system on particle emissions from a GDI engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 178-191.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sibel Osman & Olga Valerica Sapunaru & Ancaelena Eliza Sterpu & Timur Vasile Chis & Claudia I.Koncsag, 2023. "Impact of Adding Bioethanol and Dimethyl Carbonate on Gasoline Properties," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-13, February.
    2. He, Yinglong & Wang, Chongming & Zhou, Quan & Li, Ji & Makridis, Michail & Williams, Huw & Lu, Guoxiang & Xu, Hongming, 2020. "Multiobjective component sizing of a hybrid ethanol-electric vehicle propulsion system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    3. Duan, Xiongbo & Liu, Jingping & Yuan, Zhipeng & Guo, Genmiao & Liu, Qi & Tang, Qijun & Deng, Banglin & Guan, Jinhuan, 2018. "Experimental investigation of the effects of injection strategies on cycle-to-cycle variations of a DISI engine fueled with ethanol and gasoline blend," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 455-470.
    4. Ran, Zhongnan & Hariharan, Deivanayagam & Lawler, Benjamin & Mamalis, Sotirios, 2020. "Exploring the potential of ethanol, CNG, and syngas as fuels for lean spark-ignition combustion - An experimental study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. Jihwan Jang & Jonghui Choi & Hoseung Yi & Sungwook Park, 2020. "Effects of the Bore to Stroke Ratio on Combustion, Gaseous and Particulate Emissions in a Small Port Fuel Injection Engine Fueled with Ethanol Blended Gasoline," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Liu, Haoye & Wang, Chongming & Yu, Yusong & Xu, Hongming & Ma, Xiao, 2020. "An experimental study on particle evolution in the exhaust gas of a direct injection SI engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    7. Eckert, Jony Javorski & Silva, Fabrício L. & da Silva, Samuel Filgueira & Bueno, André Valente & de Oliveira, Mona Lisa Moura & Silva, Ludmila C.A., 2022. "Optimal design and power management control of hybrid biofuel–electric powertrain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    8. Liu, Shang & Lin, Zhelong & Zhang, Hao & Fan, Qinhao & Lei, Nuo & Wang, Zhi, 2023. "Experimental study on combustion and emission characteristics of ethanol-gasoline blends in a high compression ratio SI engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    9. Bao, Xiuchao & Sahu, Amrit & Jiang, Yizhaou & Badawy, Tawfik & Xu, Hongming, 2019. "Flame kernel evolution and shock wave propagation with laser ignition in ethanol-air mixtures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 86-98.
    10. Sathish Kumar, T. & Ashok, B. & Saravanan, B., 2023. "Calibration of flex-fuel operating parameters using grey relational analysis to enhance the output characteristics of ethanol powered direct injection SI engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    11. Milovanoff, Alexandre & Posen, I. Daniel & Saville, Bradley A. & MacLean, Heather L., 2020. "Well-to-wheel greenhouse gas implications of mid-level ethanol blend deployment in Canada's light-duty fleet," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    12. Zhang, Hao & Liu, Shang & Lei, Nuo & Fan, Qinhao & Wang, Zhi, 2022. "Leveraging the benefits of ethanol-fueled advanced combustion and supervisory control optimization in hybrid biofuel-electric vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    13. Zhenbin Chen & Jiaojun Deng & Haisheng Zhen & Chenyu Wang & Li Wang, 2022. "Experimental Investigation of Hydrous Ethanol Gasoline on Engine Noise, Cyclic Variations and Combustion Characteristics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, February.
    14. Fagundez, J.L.S. & Lanzanova, T.D.M. & Martins, M.E.S. & Salau, N.P.G., 2020. "Joint use of artificial neural networks and particle swarm optimization to determine optimal performance of an ethanol SI engine operating with negative valve overlap strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    15. Fan, Qinhao & Liu, Shang & Qi, Yunliang & Cai, Kaiyuan & Wang, Zhi, 2021. "Investigation into ethanol effects on combustion and particle number emissions in a spark-ignition to compression-ignition (SICI) engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    16. Morganti, Kai & Al-Abdullah, Marwan & Alzubail, Abdullah & Kalghatgi, Gautam & Viollet, Yoann & Head, Robert & Khan, Ahmad & Abdul-Manan, Amir, 2017. "Synergistic engine-fuel technologies for light-duty vehicles: Fuel economy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 1538-1561.
    17. Kumar, T. Sathish & Ashok, B., 2021. "Critical review on combustion phenomena of low carbon alcohols in SI engine with its challenges and future directions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    18. Duan, Xiongbo & Liu, Jingping & Tan, Yonghao & Luo, Baojun & Guo, Genmiao & Wu, Zhenkuo & Liu, Weiqiang & Li, Yangyang, 2018. "Influence of single injection and two-stagnation injection strategy on thermodynamic process and performance of a turbocharged direct-injection spark-ignition engine fuelled with ethanol and gasoline ," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 942-953.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huang, Yuhan & Surawski, Nic C. & Zhuang, Yuan & Zhou, John L. & Hong, Guang, 2021. "Dual injection: An effective and efficient technology to use renewable fuels in spark ignition engines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    2. Zhang, Bin & E, Jiaqiang & Gong, Jinke & Yuan, Wenhua & Zuo, Wei & Li, Yu & Fu, Jun, 2016. "Multidisciplinary design optimization of the diesel particulate filter in the composite regeneration process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 14-28.
    3. Qian, Yong & Li, Zilong & Yu, Liang & Wang, Xiaole & Lu, Xingcai, 2019. "Review of the state-of-the-art of particulate matter emissions from modern gasoline fueled engines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1269-1298.
    4. Chintala, V. & Subramanian, K.A., 2015. "Experimental investigations on effect of different compression ratios on enhancement of maximum hydrogen energy share in a compression ignition engine under dual-fuel mode," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 448-462.
    5. Renzi, Massimiliano & Bietresato, Marco & Mazzetto, Fabrizio, 2016. "An experimental evaluation of the performance of a SI internal combustion engine for agricultural purposes fuelled with different bioethanol blends," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P1), pages 1069-1080.
    6. Wang, Zhi & Liu, Hui & Long, Yan & Wang, Jianxin & He, Xin, 2015. "Comparative study on alcohols–gasoline and gasoline–alcohols dual-fuel spark ignition (DFSI) combustion for high load extension and high fuel efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 395-405.
    7. Jiang, Chenxu & Li, Zilong & Qian, Yong & Wang, Xiaole & Zhang, Yahui & Lu, Xingcai, 2018. "Influences of fuel injection strategies on combustion performance and regular/irregular emissions in a turbocharged gasoline direct injection engine: Commercial gasoline versus multi-components gasoli," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 173-187.
    8. Galadima, Ahmad & Muraza, Oki, 2019. "Catalytic thermal conversion of CO2 into fuels: Perspective and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    9. Yu, Shenghao & Yin, Bifeng & Bi, Qinsheng & Chen, Chen & Jia, Hekun, 2021. "Experimental and numerical investigation on inner flow and spray characteristics of elliptical GDI injectors with large aspect ratio," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    10. Tara Larsson & Senthil Krishnan Mahendar & Anders Christiansen-Erlandsson & Ulf Olofsson, 2021. "The Effect of Pure Oxygenated Biofuels on Efficiency and Emissions in a Gasoline Optimised DISI Engine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-24, June.
    11. Irimescu, Adrian & Vasiu, Gabriel & Tordai, Gavrilă Trif, 2014. "Performance and emissions of a small scale generator powered by a spark ignition engine with adaptive fuel injection control," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 196-206.
    12. Goel, Varun & Kumar, Naresh & Singh, Paramvir, 2018. "Impact of modified parameters on diesel engine characteristics using biodiesel: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2716-2729.
    13. Michał Wojcieszyk & Lotta Knuutila & Yuri Kroyan & Mário de Pinto Balsemão & Rupali Tripathi & Juha Keskivali & Anna Karvo & Annukka Santasalo-Aarnio & Otto Blomstedt & Martti Larmi, 2021. "Performance of Anisole and Isobutanol as Gasoline Bio-Blendstocks for Spark Ignition Engines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    14. Zhennan Zhu & Kun Liang & Xinwen Chen & Zhongwei Meng & Wenbin He & Hao Song, 2020. "Laminar Flame Characteristics of Premixed Methanol–Water–Air Mixture," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-13, December.
    15. Salvo, Orlando de & Vaz de Almeida, Flávio G., 2019. "Influence of technologies on energy efficiency results of official Brazilian tests of vehicle energy consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C), pages 98-112.
    16. Mazen A. Eldeeb & Benjamin Akih-Kumgeh, 2018. "Recent Trends in the Production, Combustion and Modeling of Furan-Based Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-47, February.
    17. Storch, Michael & Hinrichsen, Florian & Wensing, Michael & Will, Stefan & Zigan, Lars, 2015. "The effect of ethanol blending on mixture formation, combustion and soot emission studied in an optical DISI engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 783-792.
    18. Hotta, Santosh Kumar & Sahoo, Niranjan & Mohanty, Kaustubha & Kulkarni, Vinayak, 2020. "Ignition timing and compression ratio as effective means for the improvement in the operating characteristics of a biogas fueled spark ignition engine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 854-867.
    19. Nuthan Prasad, B.S. & Pandey, Jayashish Kumar & Kumar, G.N., 2020. "Impact of changing compression ratio on engine characteristics of an SI engine fueled with equi-volume blend of methanol and gasoline," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    20. Feng, Dengquan & Wei, Haiqiao & Pan, Mingzhang & Zhou, Lei & Hua, Jianxiong, 2018. "Combustion performance of dual-injection using n-butanol direct-injection and gasoline port fuel-injection in a SI engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 573-581.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:191:y:2017:i:c:p:603-619. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.