IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v88y2015icp101-110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A comprehensive analysis of the effect of ethanol, methane and methane-hydrogen blend on the combustion process in a PFI (port fuel injection) engine

Author

Listed:
  • Catapano, F.
  • Di Iorio, S.
  • Magno, A.
  • Sementa, P.
  • Vaglieco, B.M.

Abstract

The energy crisis and environmental issues make the alternative fuels, both liquid and gaseous, even more attractive because of their potentiality in reducing the fuel consumption and the pollutant emissions. Ethanol is the most promising alternative liquid fuel for spark ignition engines. It has a higher octane number, which provides good anti-knock characteristics and in the possibility to work with higher compression ratios, so improving the engine efficiency. The higher heat of vaporization compared to gasoline leads to an increased power output. Moreover, the larger oxygen content provides a more complete combustion and therefore reduced emissions. Among gaseous fuels, methane is considered one of the most interesting. It has wider flammable limits and better anti-knock properties than gasoline. Moreover, it is characterized by lower CO2 emissions. On the other hand, the slow flame propagation speed and its poor lean-burn capability produce lower engine power output with respect to gasoline. The addition of a high burning velocity fuel, such as hydrogen, allows to improve the combustion process in terms of burning velocity and extend the lean operation limit. The objective of this paper is the analysis of the effect of different fuels on the engine performance and emissions. Experimental investigations were carried out in an optically accessible small single-cylinder, spark ignition four-stroke engine. It was equipped with the cylinder head of a Port Fuel Injection commercial 244 cc engine. The engine was fueled with gasoline, ethanol, methane and a blend of hydrogen in methane. Optical measurements were performed to analyze the combustion process with high spatial and temporal resolution. In particular, the optical techniques based on 2D-digital imaging were used to follow the flame propagation in the combustion chamber. UV–visible spectroscopy allows the detection of chemical markers of the combustion process such as the radicals OH* and CH*. The exhaust emissions were characterized by means of gaseous analyzers. The measurements were performed at steady state conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Catapano, F. & Di Iorio, S. & Magno, A. & Sementa, P. & Vaglieco, B.M., 2015. "A comprehensive analysis of the effect of ethanol, methane and methane-hydrogen blend on the combustion process in a PFI (port fuel injection) engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 101-110.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:88:y:2015:i:c:p:101-110
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.02.051
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544215002066
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2015.02.051?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. Ozsezen, Ahmet Necati & Canakci, Mustafa, 2011. "Performance and combustion characteristics of alcohol–gasoline blends at wide-open throttle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2747-2752.
    2. Bayraktar, Hakan, 2005. "Experimental and theoretical investigation of using gasoline–ethanol blends in spark-ignition engines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1733-1747.
    3. Wang, Shuofeng & Ji, Changwei & Zhang, Jian & Zhang, Bo, 2011. "Comparison of the performance of a spark-ignited gasoline engine blended with hydrogen and hydrogen–oxygen mixtures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 5832-5837.
    4. 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.
    5. Gong, Chang-Ming & Huang, Kuo & Jia, Jing-Long & Su, Yan & Gao, Qing & Liu, Xun-Jun, 2011. "Regulated emissions from a direct-injection spark-ignition methanol engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 3379-3387.
    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. Wang, Shuofeng & Ji, Changwei & Zhang, Bo & Cong, Xiaoyu & Liu, Xiaolong, 2016. "Effect of CO2 dilution on combustion and emissions characteristics of the hydrogen-enriched gasoline engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 118-126.
    2. Liu, Zengbin & Zhen, Xudong & Geng, Jie & Tian, Zhi, 2024. "Effects of injection timing on mixture formation, combustion, and emission characteristics in a n-butanol direct injection spark ignition engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    3. Song, Jingeun & Kim, Taehoon & Jang, Jihwan & Park, Sungwook, 2015. "Effects of the injection strategy on the mixture formation and combustion characteristics in a DISI (direct injection spark ignition) optical engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P2), pages 1758-1768.
    4. Huang, Yuhan & Hong, Guang & Huang, Ronghua, 2016. "Effect of injection timing on mixture formation and combustion in an ethanol direct injection plus gasoline port injection (EDI+GPI) engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 92-103.
    5. Wei, Haiqiao & Zhang, Ren & Chen, Lin & Pan, Jiaying & Wang, Xuan, 2021. "Effects of high ignition energy on lean combustion characteristics of natural gas using an optical engine with a high compression ratio," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    6. Fekadu Mosisa Wako & Gianmaria Pio & Ernesto Salzano, 2020. "The Effect of Hydrogen Addition on Low-Temperature Combustion of Light Hydrocarbons and Alcohols," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-14, July.
    7. Djouadi, Amel & Bentahar, Fatiha, 2016. "Combustion study of a spark-ignition engine from pressure cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 211-217.
    8. Tabatabaei, Meisam & Aghbashlo, Mortaza & Valijanian, Elena & Kazemi Shariat Panahi, Hamed & Nizami, Abdul-Sattar & Ghanavati, Hossein & Sulaiman, Alawi & Mirmohamadsadeghi, Safoora & Karimi, Keikhosr, 2020. "A comprehensive review on recent biological innovations to improve biogas production, Part 2: Mainstream and downstream strategies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1392-1407.
    9. Catapano, Francesco & Di Iorio, Silvana & Magno, Agnese & Vaglieco, Bianca Maria, 2022. "Effect of fuel quality on combustion evolution and particle emissions from PFI and GDI engines fueled with gasoline, ethanol and blend, with focus on 10–23 nm particles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PB).
    10. Liu, Zengbin & Zhen, Xudong & Tian, Zhi & Liu, Daming & Wang, Yang, 2024. "Study on the effect of injection strategy on the combustion and emission characteristics of direct injection spark ignition bio-butanol engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    11. Yuce, Bahadir Erman & Oral, Faruk, 2024. "Multi objective optimization of emission and performance characteristics in a spark ignition engine with a novel hydrogen generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    12. Sun, Zuo-Yu & Li, Guo-Xiu, 2016. "Propagation characteristics of laminar spherical flames within homogeneous hydrogen-air mixtures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 116-127.

    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. 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).
    2. Thangavelu, Saravana Kannan & Ahmed, Abu Saleh & Ani, Farid Nasir, 2016. "Review on bioethanol as alternative fuel for spark ignition engines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 820-835.
    3. Awad, Omar I. & Mamat, R. & Ali, Obed M. & Sidik, N.A.C. & Yusaf, T. & Kadirgama, K. & Kettner, Maurice, 2018. "Alcohol and ether as alternative fuels in spark ignition engine: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2586-2605.
    4. Süleyman Şimşek & Hasan Saygın & Bülent Özdalyan, 2020. "Improvement of Fusel Oil Features and Effect of Its Use in Different Compression Ratios for an SI Engine on Performance and Emission," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, April.
    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. Çay, Yusuf & Korkmaz, Ibrahim & Çiçek, Adem & Kara, Fuat, 2013. "Prediction of engine performance and exhaust emissions for gasoline and methanol using artificial neural network," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 177-186.
    7. 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).
    8. Suleyman Simsek & Bulent Ozdalyan, 2018. "Improvements to the Composition of Fusel Oil and Analysis of the Effects of Fusel Oil–Gasoline Blends on a Spark-Ignited (SI) Engine’s Performance and Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, March.
    9. Thakur, Amit Kumar & Kaviti, Ajay Kumar & Mehra, Roopesh & Mer, K.K.S., 2017. "Progress in performance analysis of ethanol-gasoline blends on SI engine," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 324-340.
    10. Roussos G. Papagiannakis & Dimitrios C. Rakopoulos & Constantine D. Rakopoulos, 2017. "Theoretical Study of the Effects of Spark Timing on the Performance and Emissions of a Light-Duty Spark Ignited Engine Running under Either Gasoline or Ethanol or Butanol Fuel Operating Modes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
    11. Gong, Changming & Liu, Fenghua & Sun, Jingzhen & Wang, Kang, 2016. "Effect of compression ratio on performance and emissions of a stratified-charge DISI (direct injection spark ignition) methanol engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 166-175.
    12. Elfasakhany, Ashraf, 2017. "Investigations on performance and pollutant emissions of spark-ignition engines fueled with n-butanol–, isobutanol–, ethanol–, methanol–, and acetone–gasoline blends: A comparative study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 404-413.
    13. Ali Qasemian & Sina Jenabi Haghparast & Pouria Azarikhah & Meisam Babaie, 2021. "Effects of Compression Ratio of Bio-Fueled SI Engines on the Thermal Balance and Waste Heat Recovery Potential," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-21, May.
    14. Huang, Yuhan & Hong, Guang & Huang, Ronghua, 2016. "Effect of injection timing on mixture formation and combustion in an ethanol direct injection plus gasoline port injection (EDI+GPI) engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 92-103.
    15. Awad, Omar I. & Mamat, R. & Ibrahim, Thamir K. & Hammid, Ali Thaeer & Yusri, I.M. & Hamidi, Mohd Adnin & Humada, Ali M. & Yusop, A.F., 2018. "Overview of the oxygenated fuels in spark ignition engine: Environmental and performance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 394-408.
    16. Gong, Changming & Yi, Lin & Wang, Kang & Huang, Kuo & Liu, Fenghua, 2020. "Numerical modeling of plasma-assisted combustion effects on firing and intermediates in the combustion process of methanol–air mixtures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    17. Muhamad Norkhizan Abdullah & Ahmad Fitri Yusop & Rizalman Mamat & Mohd Adnin Hamidi & Kumarasamy Sudhakar & Talal Yusaf, 2023. "Sustainable Biofuels from First Three Alcohol Families: A Critical Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-21, January.
    18. Mourad, M. & Mahmoud, Khaled R.M., 2018. "Performance investigation of passenger vehicle fueled by propanol/gasoline blend according to a city driving cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 741-749.
    19. Gong, Changming & Sun, Jingzhen & Liu, Fenghua, 2021. "Numerical research on combustion and emissions behaviors of a medium compression ratio direct-injection twin-spark plug synchronous ignition methanol engine under steady-state lean-burn conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PB).
    20. 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.

    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:energy:v:88:y:2015:i:c:p:101-110. 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.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    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.