Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24 (2013) 209–222 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser Effect of ethanol–gasoline blend on NOx emission in SI engine B.M. Masum n, H.H. Masjuki, M.A. Kalam, I.M. Rizwanul Fattah, S.M. Palash, M.J. Abedin Centre for Energy Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia article info abstract Article history: The stricter worldwide emission legislation and growing demands for lower fuel consumption and Received 25 July 2012 anthropogenic CO2 emission require significant efforts to improve combustion efficiency while satisfying Received in revised form the emission quality demands. Ethanol fuel combined with gasoline provides a particularly promising 10 March 2013 and, at the same time, a challenging approach. Ethanol is widely used as an alternative fuel or an effective Accepted 15 March 2013 additive of gasoline due to the advantage of its high octane number and its self-sustaining concept, Available online 16 April 2013 which can be supplied regardless of the fossil fuel. As a result, vast study has been carried out to study its Keywords: effects on engine performance and emission. Ethanol The first part of this article discusses prospect of fuel ethanol as a gasoline substitute. Then it Nitrogen oxide discusses comparative physicochemical properties of ethanol and gasoline. The slight differences in SI engine properties between ethanol and gasoline fuels are enough to create considerable change to combustion Renewable energy Emission system as well as behaviors of SI engines. These effects lead to several complex and interacting mechanisms, which make it difficult to identify the fundamentals of how ethanol affects NOx emission. After that, general NOx forming mechanisms are discussed to create a fundamental basis for further discussion. Finally, the article discusses different fuel composition, engine parameter and engine modification effects on NOx formation as well as mathematical approach for NOx prediction using ethanol. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction........................................................................................................ 210 2. Ethanol fuel as a gasoline substitute . 210 3. Comparison of physicochemical properties . 212 4. Formation of NOx . 212 4.1. ThermalNOx................................................................................................. 213 4.2. PromptNOx.................................................................................................. 213 4.3. Intermediate N2O.............................................................................................. 213 4.4. FuelNOx.................................................................................................... 213 5. Effect of ethanol–gasoline blend on NOx emission . 213 5.1. Effect of fuel composition . 213 5.1.1. Effect of blend concentration . 213 5.1.2. Effect of hydrous ethanol . 215 5.2. Effect of engine parameters . 215 5.2.1. Effect of compression ratio . 215 5.2.2. Effect of engine load . 216 5.2.3. Effect of equivalence ratio . 216 5.2.4. Effect of speed . 216 5.2.5. Effect of cold-start . 216 n Correspondance to: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel.: þ603 79674448; fax: þ603 79675317. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (B.M. Masum). 1364-0321/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.03.046 210 B.M. Masum et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24 (2013) 209–222 5.3. Engine modification............................................................................................ 217 5.3.1. Application of thermal barrier coating . 217 5.3.2. Effect of separate aqueous ethanol injection . 218 5.4. Effect of different vehicles. 218 6. Prediction of NOx emission by Artificial Neural Networks . 219 7. Conclusion......................................................................................................... 219 Acknowledgment . 220 References.............................................................................................................220 1. Introduction of NOx emissions related to use of ethanol in gasoline engine. There are many published studies on ethanol use as an alternative fuel in SI The consumption of energy has ever-increasing trend mainly due engines, as will be summarized next, to explain the potential change to two reasons: (1) changes in lifestyles and (2) the significant in NOx emissions with ethanol fuels. However, there are considerable growth of the population. Petroleum-based fossil fuels presently inconsistencies in the explanations, which make fundamental under- provide the major portion of the energy supply; however, their standing incomplete. sourcesarelimitedonthisEarth.Inthetwentiethcentury,the research emphasis was on the development of fossil crude oil, coal, and natural gas based refinery to exploit the cheaply available fossil 2. Ethanol fuel as a gasoline substitute feedstock to meet the growing demand of the population [1].Inthe 21st century, the adverse effect of greenhouse gas emissions on the Ethanol (C2H5OH) is an ecological fuel, as it is obtained from environment, together with declining petroleum reserves and future renewable energy sources. It is a colorless, transparent, neutral, energy security, is pronounced well. The combustion of fossil fuels is volatile, flammable, oxygenated liquid hydrocarbon, which has a a big contributor to carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, which is a direct pungent odor and a sharp burning taste [4]. At present, however, contributor to global warming. Every year about 25 billion ton of blends of bioethanol and gasoline are more common in vehicles CO2 are generated worldwide by anthropogenic activities [2].There- with fuel injection engines. Bioethanol and ethanol is practically fore, the present research is focused on alternative energy sources the same product. They have the same molecular and structural for sustainable development of the economy and society [1]. Fossil formula, and are the same substance. In other words, bioethanol is fuels still represent 80% of total energy supply whereas biofuel just plain ethanol, which is produced from sugar derived from contribute only 1% [3]. plants. Usually, it is produced from various feed stocks such as The main alternative fuels utilized so far are oxygenates sugar cane, sugar beet, sorghum, grain, switch grass, barley, hemp, (alcohol, ether etc.), vegetable oils and their esters, gaseous fuel kenaf, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, sunflower, fruit, molasses, (hydrogen, liquefied petroleum gas etc.), gas to liquids (GTL) and corn, stover, grain, wheat, straw, cotton, and other biomass, as well coal derivatives. Ethanol has attracted attention worldwide as many types of cellulose wastes and harvests. because of its potential use as an alternative automotive fuel [4]. Generally, ethanol or bioethanol is more reactive than hydro- Use of ethanol as a fuel is not a new concept. In 1826, Samuel carbon fuels, such as gasoline [21]. It contains hydroxyl radicals as Morey developed an engine that ran on ethanol [5]. The use of the polar fraction and carbon chains as the non-polar fraction; ethanol blended with diesel was a subject of research in the 1980s. hence it can be easily dissolved in both non-polar (e.g. gasoline) At that time, it was shown that ethanol blends were technically and polar (e.g. water) substances [21]. Because of the regenerative acceptable as a fuel for existing engines. However, the relatively and biodegradable characteristics of ethanol, it is widely used high production cost of ethanol at that time hindered its regular as an alternative fuel at present. The use of gasoline containing use and made it a backup fuel in cases of fuel shortages. However, 3–10 vol% bioethanol is being promoted in many parts of the the economics have become much more favorable for the produc- world for last few years [22]. The use of pure ethanol requires tion of ethanol and it is now able to compete with standard some modifications to SI engines; thus low concentration blends petroleum-based fuel [6]. of ethanol are usually used without any modification of the SI Ethanol is a green fuel because the growing sugarcane crops engine [23]. Tables 1 and 2 show the advantages and disadvan- function as a CO2 sink, thereby contributing to the reduction of tages of using ethanol over gasoline. greenhouse gases (GHG) [7]. Recently, ethanol has been used exten- Worldwide ethanol production in terms of feedstock can be sively as a fuel additive or an alternative fuel in spark ignition (SI) categorized into three major groups [23]: engines as well as in diesel engines as it is a high octane, clean- burning fuel [8,9]. Burning of ethanol in SI engines also reduces 1. Ethanol from sucrose-containing biomass such as sugar cane, emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), and so on, but sugar beet, sweet sorghum and fruits. there are some inconsistencies in NOx emissions as shown by many 2. Ethanol from starchy biomass such as corn, milo, wheat, rice, researchers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed NOx as potato, cassava, sweet potatoes, and barley. one of the critical pollutants that can affect the respiratory system. As 3. Ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass such as wood, straw, and the use of ethanol