The Effects of Ethanol–gasoline Blend on Performance and Exhaust Emission Characteristics of a Spark Ignition Engines

The effects of unleaded gasoline and unleaded gasoline–ethanol blends on engine performance and pollutant emissions were investigated experimentally in a single cylinder, four-stroke spark-ignition engine with variable engine speeds (2600–3500 rpm). Four different blends on a volume basis were applied. These are E0 (0% ethanol + 100% unleaded gasoline), E3 (3% ethanol + 97% unleaded gasoline), E7 (7% ethanol + 93% unleaded gasoline) and E10 (10% ethanol + 90% unleaded gasoline). Results of the engine test indicated that using ethanol–gasoline blended fuels improve output torque, power, volumetric efficiency and fuel consumption of the engine; it was also noted that fuel consumption depends on the engine speed rather than the ethanol content for ethanol less than 10% blended ratio. CO and unburned hydrocarbons emissions decrease dramatically as a result of the leaning effect caused by the ethanol addition; CO2 emission increases because of the improved combustion.