Influences of ternary ethanol methanol gasoline mixtures on the performance of a spark ignition engine

Abstract

The principal aim of this study is to determine the influence of ternary mixtures of gasoline, ethanol and methanol as fuels, on a spark ignition engine performance. Four samples of fuels were prepared with varying concentrations of each constituent. The different fuels studied are: EM0 (gasoline), EM5 (2.5% ethanol, 2.5% methanol, 95% gasoline), EM10 (5% ethanol, 5% methanol, 90% gasoline) and EM15 (7.5% ethanol, 7.5% methanol, 85% gasoline). A battery of tests (appearance, color, odor, lower heating value, density, research octane number, vapor pressure, total sulfur content and distillation curve) was carried out on these mixtures in order to determine their physicochemical properties and their ability to be used as fuel. Then, the different prepared mixtures were used as fuels to determine the performance of the 4-stroke, carbureted Renault 4 engine. These tests show that these additions give rise to a fuel with a lower sulfur level, a higher RON and a lower low heating value compared to unleaded gasoline and therefore improve, depending on the circumstances, the power of the fuel engine, its specific consumption, its speed and combustion. At the end of this study, it was concluded that the use of fuel mixtures was relevant for high speeds and also more suitable for total loads.