A preliminary investigation of the performance and emissions of a port-fuel injected SI engine fueled with acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) and gasoline

Alcohols, because of their potential to be produced from renewable sources and their characteristics suitable for clean combustion, are considered potential fuels which can be blended with fossil-based gasoline for use in internal combustion engines. As such, n-butanol has received a lot of attention in this regard and has shown to be a possible alternative to pure gasoline. The main issue preventing butanol's use in modern engines is its relatively high cost of production. Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) fermentation is one of the major methods to produce bio-butanol. The goal of this study is to investigate the combustion characteristics of the intermediate product in butanol production, namely ABE, and hence evaluate its potential as an alternative fuel. Acetone, n-butanol and ethanol were blended in a 3:6:1 volume ratio and then splash blended with pure ethanol-free gasoline with volumetric ratios of 0%, 20%, 40% to create various fuel blends. These blends were tested in a port-fuel injected spark-ignited (SI) engine and their performance was evaluated through measurements of in-cylinder pressure, and various exhaust emissions. In addition, pure gasoline was also tested as a baseline for comparison of ABE fuels. The tests were conducted at an engine speed of 1500 RPM and a load of 350 kPa brake mean effective pressure (BMEP). On the basis of the experimental data, combustion characteristics for these fuels have been determined as follows: mass fraction burned (MFB) profile, rate of MFB, combustion duration and location of 50% MFB.