Improving the gasoline properties by blending butanol-Al2O3 to optimize the engine performance and reduce air pollution

Abstract

In this study, butanol, as an oxygenate additive and alumina as a nano metal particle, was mixed with pure gasoline. Different blends were tested, and operational tests were done on an engine with different engine speeds. Those additives were added to decrease air pollution due to the higher oxygen content of butanol, which can make combustion more complete, and nano metal additive, which has suitable potential to enhance engine performance, especially Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC). The results indicate that adding the additives mentioned above to the pure gasoline has led to an increase the engine performance. In this regard, the engine power has increased by 10% by adding alumina. Moreover, combining the base gasoline with additives enhances CO2 and reduces NOx and emissions of hydrocarbons. In this research, carbon monoxide was diminished by adding alcohol up to 50% in some conditions, and the emitted hydrocarbons through the atmosphere were declined by up to 20%. Moreover, optimization results showed that higher optimization is achieved when 5% of butanol and 1 g of alumina are used. Under these conditions, the results of CO, CO2, NOx and HC emissions were 1.099, 4.699, 113.9 and 77.5 ppm, respectively. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd