Analysis of ethanol blends on spark ignition engines

The objective of this investigation was to find the effect of ethanol–gasoline blends as fuel on the performance and exhaust emission of a spark ignition (SI) engine. A four-stroke three-cylinder SI engine was used for this study. Performance tests were conducted for the three blends E5 (5% ethanol), E10 (10% ethanol) and E15 (15% of ethanol) as well as E0(100% gasoline) to evaluate their brake thermal efficiency, specific fuel consumption and mechanical efficiency, while exhaust emissions were also analysed for carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) with varying torque conditions and constant speed of the engine. The results showed that blends of gasoline and ethanol increased the brake power, brake thermal efficiency and the fuel consumption. The CO and HC emissions concentration in the engine exhaust decreased while the NO_x concentration increased.