Background

For the last few decades there has been a significant increase in the investigation of
alternative energy. One fo the most common of this sources of energy is bio combusitbles
which have had an increase in production in the last few decades as well. Bio
combustibles such as bio ethanol is believed to be the fuel of the future and the answer to
the energy crisis we are heading to as fossil fuels reserves flail. These reserves are
expected to be exhausted by the year 2044 and scientinst have been incented to study and
evaluate the use of different alcohols as alternative fuels to anticipate this crisis and
develop cleaner, renewbable and sistainable energy.

The most common bio combustible, and thus the one that has been investigated the most
is bio ethanol. This fuel offers the advantage of reduces dependece on petroleum and its
often used in a combination with this gasoline.

It can be considered a renewbable source of energy since it can be fermented and distilled
from biomasses. By the nature of its chemical properties it also offers some advantages
over gasoline such as CO and other greenhouse gasses emission reduction. Althougth this
sound promising we are still unable to use it extensibly as to technology and economic
limitations. Other advantages of using alcohol as combustible such as bio ethanol are
itshigher auto-ignition temperature which makes it safer to transport and store, and the
necessary amount of air required for a complete combustion is lower.

The most common disadvantage that is commonly observed is that since the heating value
of ethanol is lower that gasoline, then the consumtion of combustible for the same amount
of energy required by the engine increses, which by meaning, decreases the efficiency of
the fuel, energetically speaking.

Several studies have been made along the past years and they show us the behaviour of
this two fuels (gasoline and bio ethanol), as they are blended in different proportions and
analyzed by different method in different motors to abtain the desired data such as
emissions reduction percentage and fuel efficiency.
Justification

Previous investigations show us how this changes in composition behave individually.

For example, all studies that use any combination of ethanol and gasoline demonstrate on
the result how CO emissions reduce as the percentage of ethanol used in the fuel
increases. They also tell us in their discoveries how other greenhouse gasses emission
behave as they reduce or increase.

The reason of our study is to analyze this information and make sure is can be useful for
the environment. Bio ethanol can be a solution for the energy crisis since it comes from
renewable sources, but we want to make sure this solution is adequate by analyzing its
behavior on a global scale and comparing the total emissions of this fuels to regular
gasoline.

As we explained, bio ethanol is believed to be the fuel of the future, but we can not say
that freely if we don’t analyze if it is environmentally viable.

Hypothesis

Since ethanol is an alcohol, the oxygen present in this combustible will bust the efficiency
of the combustion, this making it a more complete combustion. Since the combustion will
be closer to an ideal reaction, then the amount of undesired products which are high
impact gasses for the environment, will drop. As high impact gasses are reduced, the
global impact in greenhouse emissions considering the equivalent value in CO2 will also
decrease.

Objective

Our objective is to use previous investigations data on the reduction on this high impact
gasses applied on our own data on the emissions of an average car and compare it to our
own data obtained in this research. All this with the finality of analyzing the global impact
of this fuels and its viability.

Methodology

1. Collect data from previous investigations that will suit the analysis we will
undertake, this will be focused mainly in the emissions by different fuels mixing
ethanol and gasoline.
2. Collect data on the emission of gasoline in an average car (most used or common
models).
3. Apply the collected data from previous investigations to the data obtained by our
team to obtained data on the amount of emissions.
4. Collect data on the emissions of blended fuels in the same car (using the same
fuels that previous investigations use).
5. Compare the individual and global emissions in this two results to determine both
previous investigation accuracy and more importantly, environmental viability.

Goals

The goal of this investigation is to find and implement the best fuel to reduce the
emissions to the environment and thus reduce the carbon print to a minimum.

Requested Resources
1. Computing system and software. $650
2. Gasoline. $350
3. Ethanol. $250
4. Laboratory equipment. $200
5. Engine systems (regular and mixed). $1000
6. Gas Detector. $850
Total = $3,300
References

1. José Javier Gómez, Joseluis Samaniego, Mariana Antonissen. (2008). Consideraciones

ambientales en torno a los biocombustibles líquidos . 19 de Noviembre de 2018, de CEPAL - Serie
Medio ambiente y desarrollo Sitio web:
https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/5679/S0800459_es.pdf?sequence=1&isAllow
ed=y

2. Serna, Fabiola, Barrera, Luis, & Montiel, Héctor. (2011). Impacto Social y Económico en el uso de
Biocombustibles. Journal of technology management & innovation, 6(1), 100-
114. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242011000100009