Effects of Various Prevalent Fuels on Spark-Ignition Engines Operation

In order to make the engine operate in a high performance and more environmentally friendly process, other fuels can be used instead of gasoline. In this paper, a comparison among six prevalent fuels, Methanol, Ethanol, Gasoline, Methane, Ethan, and Propane, in a spark ignition internal combustion engine is studied. A computational code is prepared to model spark ignition internal combustion engines. Knowledge of thermodynamic properties in each stroke is prerequisite, thus, firstly, calculation of thermodynamic properties is concerned and then with the assistance of calculated properties, thermodynamic process of each stroke is investigated. This comparison lead us to study important parameters in engines operation such as pollutants (exhaust CO and CO2), indicated power, indicated specific fuel consumption, indicated thermal efficiency and indicated mean effective pressure. The efficient fuel for each calculated parameter is designated by investigation of output data. The results show that the indicated power of Ethanol, Gasoline, and Methanol is higher than other fuels. Also, the highest indicated power belongs to Methane among the investigated fuels. As far as fuel consumption is concerned, an engine working on Methanol consumes lowest among the fuels. In addition, fuels like Gasoline, Methane, Ethane, and Propane approximately have same indicated specific fuel consumption. Regarding pollutants, combustion of Gasoline emits the most amount of CO which is a hazardous gas.

Keywords:

Otto Cycle , Internal Combustion Engine , Various Fuels