UNIT-III

VARIOUS TYPES OF ALTERNATE FUELS

Fuels are classified into three forms, viz. solid, liquid and gaseous. Present
day automobiles are using mainly liquid fuels of petroleum origin. However, some use gaseous
fuels like CNG and LPG. It is interesting o note that during early days even solid fuels like coal,
slurry and charcoal have been tried. In the following sections we will discuss in detail the various
alternate fuels for IC engines.
SOLID FUEL
Solid fuels are obsolete for IC engines. In order to have historical perspective we will
describe some of the earlier attempts.
When Rudolf Diesel was developing his engine, one of the fuels he used was
a coal dust mixed with water. Fine particles of coal (carbon) were dispersed in water and injected
and burned in early diesel engines. Although this never became a common fuel, a number of

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experimental engines using this fuel have been built over the last hundred years. Even today,
some work continues on this fuel technology. The major improvement in this type of fuel has
been the reduction of the average coal particle size. In 1894 the average particle size was on the
order of 100µ ot
(1µ = 1mciron =10-6m). This was reduced to about 70µ in the 1941-1970 periods
and further reduced to about 10µ by the early 1980s. The typical slurry is about 50% coal and
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50% water by mass. One major problem with this fuel is the abrasiveness of the soled particles,
which manifests itself in worn injectors and piston rings.
Coal is an attractive fuel because of the large supply which is available.
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However, as an engine fuel, other methods of use seem more feasible. These include liquefaction
or gasification of the coal.
LIQUID FUEL: Liquid fuels are preferred for IC engines because they are easy to store and
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have reasonably good calorific value. In the liquid fuel category the main alternative is the
alcohol.
GASEOUS FUELS Gaseous fuels are best suited for IC engines since physical delay is almost
nil. However, as fuel displaces equal amount of air the engines may have poor volumetric
efficiency. There are quite few gaseous fuels that can be used as alternate fuels. We will discuss
them in details in the following sections.
LIQUID FUEL
Liquid fuels are preferred for IC engines because they are easy to store and have
reasonably good calorific value. In the liquid fuel category the main alternative is the alcohol.
ALCOHOL: Alcohols are an attractive fuel because they can be obtained from both natural and
manufactured sources. Methanol and ethanol are two kinds of alcohols that seem most
promising.
Advantages of alcohol as fuel are:

 It can be obtained from a number of resources, both natural and manufactured.

 It is a high octane fuel with anti-knock index numbers of over 100. Engines using high
octane fuel can run more efficient by using higher compression ratios.
 Alcohols have higher flame speeds.
 It produces less overall emissions when compared with gasoline.
 It has high latent heat of vaporization which results in a cooler intake process.

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 Alcohols have low sulphur content in the fuel.

Disadvantages of alcohol as fuel are:


many plastics.
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Alcohol is much more corrosive than gasoline on copper, bras, aluminum , rubber, and

It has poor cold weather starting characteristics due to low vapour pressure and evaporation.
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 Alcohols have poor ignition characteristics in general.
 It have most invisible flames, which is considered dangerous when handling fuel. Again a
small amount of gasoline removes this danger.
 There is a possibility of vapor lock in fuel delivery systems.
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METHANOL: Of all the fuels being considered as an alternative to gasoline, methanol is one
of the most promising and has experienced major research and development. Pure methanol and
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mixtures of methanol and gasoline in various percentages have been extensively tested in
engines and vehicles for a number of years.
ETHANOL: Ethanol has been used has a alternative for many years in various regions of world.
Gasohol is a mixture of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol. Flexible fuel engines are being tested
which can operate on any ratio of ethanol-gasoline.
Ethanol can be made from ethylene or from fermentation of grass and sugar. Much of it is made
from corn, sugar beets, sugar cane and even cellulose (wood and paper).

ALCOHOL FOR SI ENGINES

Techniques of using alcohol in diesel engines are

 Alcohol/diesel fuel solutions.

 Alcohol diesel emulsions.
 Alcohol fumigation.
 Dual fuel injection.
 Surface ignition of alcohols.
 Spark ignition of alcohols.
 Alcohols containing ignition improving additives.

Both ethyl and methyl alcohols have high self ignition temperatures. Hence, very high
compressions ratios (25-27) will require to self ignite them. Since this would make the engine
extremely heavy and expensive, the better method is to utilize them in duo fuel operation.
In the dual fuel engine, alcohol is carbureted or injected into the inducted air. Due to
high self ignition temperatures of alcohol there will be no combustion with the usual diesel
compression ratios of range 18. A little before the end of compression stroke, a small quantity of
diesel oil is injected into the combustion chamber through normal diesel pump and spray nozzle.
The diesel oil readily ignites and this initiates combustion in the alcohol air mixture also.
Several methods are adopted for induction of alcohol into the intake of manifold. They

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are micro fog unit, pneumatic spray nozzle vaporizer, carburetor and fuel injector. The degree of
fineness in mixing of fuel and air are different for the above methods.

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Another method tried is to inject alcohol in the combustion chamber after the diesel fuel
injection. This way of alcohol injection avoids the alcohol cooling the charge in the cylinder to a
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degree which will jeopardize the ignition of diesel fuel.
However, the design calls for two complete and separate fuel systems with the fuel pump,
injection pump and injectors.
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In the dual fuel engines mentioned above major proportion of the heat release is by the
alcohol supplied and this alcohol is ignited a pilot spray of diesel oil injection. The performance
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of the dual engine is influenced by the following properties of alcohols:

The calorific value of alcohols is lower than diesel oil and hence a larger quantity of alcohol
has to be used for producing the same amount of power output. However, their air requirement
for combustion is lower, and hence the energy content of the mixture is roughly the same. Since
their latent heat of vaporization. Hence, if the alcohol induction rate exceeds a limit, the injected
diesel will not be able to ignite and hence the engine will fail to function.
All the dual fuel systems described above have the basic disadvantage of
requiring two different types of fuels and associated components. Since alcohols have a high
tendency to pre-ignite in SI engines, recently, this property was made use of in a compression
ignition engine by using a hot surface to initiate ignition.
SURFACE-IGNITION ALCOHOL CI ENGINE
The surface-ignition plug mounted on an alcohol fueled dire3ct
injection diesel engine can be seen fig. the basic concept of the systems is as follows:

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A slab of insulator material, wound with a few strands of heating wire
is fixed on the combustion chamber with the wire running on the face exposed to the gases. The
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fuel injector is located such that a part of the spray impinges heavy on this surface. Ignition is
thus initiated. The combustion chamber which is in the cylinder head is made relatively narrow
so that the combustion spreads quickly to the rest of the space. Since a part of the fuel burns on
the insulator surface and since the heat losses from the plate are low, the surface after some
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minutes of operation reaches a temperature sufficient to initiate ignition without the air of
external electrical supply. The power consumption of the coil about 50 W at 6 volts. The engine
lends itself easily to the use wide variety of fuels, including methanol, ethanol and gasoline. The
engine was found to run smoothly on methanol with a performance comparable to diesel
operation. The engine operates more smoothly at lower speeds than at higher speeds.

SPARK-ASSISTED DIESEL
In the future, it is predicted that broad cut fuel will appear as petroleum fuel, alcohols
and coal derived fuel will also penetrate as alternate fuels. One of the noted characteristics of
these fuels is their low cetane value (cetane number of diesel: 55, gasoline: 13, ethanol: 8,
methanol: 5). Hence the appearance of these fuels might threaten the existence of diesel engine
because the engine characteristics depend deeply upon high cetance value of fuel.
 But diesel engine has lot of advantages in its performance, especially in its high thermal
efficiency. This advantage is very important in the future from the view point of energy saving.
Keeping this in mind, a leading industry in Japan has developed a spark assisted diesel engine
which can operate with future low cetane fuel without losing the characteristics of diesel engine.
They have modified the conventional precombustion chamber type diesel engine, which has a
compression ratio of 19:1 by installing a spark plug in its precombustion chamber. The igniter
used is the commercial CDI, multistrike type.
GASEOUS FUELS: Gaseous fuels are best suited for IC engines since physical delay is almost
nil. However, as fuel displaces equal amount of air the engines may have poor volumetric
efficiency. There are quite few gaseous fuels that can be used as alternate fuels. We will discuss
them in details in the following sections.
HYDROGEN: A number of automobile manufacturers have built with prototype or modified
engines which operate on hydrogen fuel. The advantages of hydrogen as an Ic engine fuel
include:

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 Low emissions. Essentially no CO or HC in the exhaust as there is no carbon in the fuel.
Most exhaust would be H2Oand N2.
 Fuel availability. There are a number of different ways of making hydrogen, including
electrolysis of water.


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Fuel leakage to environment is not a pollutant.
High energy content per volume when stored as a liquid. This would give a large vehicle
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range for a given fuel tank capacity, but see the following.

Natural Gas: Natural gas is found in various localities in oil and gas bearing sanstrata located at
various depths below the earth’s surface. The gas is usually under considerable pressure, and
flows out naturally from the oil well. Ti the gas is used in an engine located near the well any
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entrained sand must be separated form the gas before its use.
Natural gas obtained from oil wells is called casing head gas. It is usually treated for the
recovery of gasoline. After this, it is called dry gas. It is delivered into the pipeline systems to be
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used as fuel. Natural gas can be used in the production of natural gasoline.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG):

Propane and butane are obtained from oil and gas wells. There are also the products of the
petroleum refining process. For automobile engines, two types of LPG are used. One is propane
and the other is butane. Sometimes, a mixture of propane and butane is used as liquid petroleum
gas in automobile engines. Liquid petroleum gasses serve as fuel in place of petrol. They are
used widely in buses, cars and trucks. Liquid petroleum gases are compressed and cooled to form
liquid. This liquid is kept in pressure tanks which are sealed.

Biogas:
Biogas is another alternate fuel tried in diesels. Biogas can be produced by anaerobic
digestion of organic matter. Potential raw materials available on a large scale are cow dung,
municipal wastes, and plants specially grown for this purpose like Water Hyacinth, Algae, and
certain types of grasses. The main advantages of bio-gas are that it can be produced in rural areas
from readily available materials. Bio gas consists mainly of methane and carbon dioxide. Its
calorific value is low but its knock resistance (octane number) is high and ignition quality
(certain number) is low.
In dual fuel type diesel engine, the gas is mixed with the incoming air and ignited by pilot
diesel fuel injection. Similar to the behaving of alcohol diesel oil dual fuel engines, this gas
engine also suffers a fall in efficiency at part loads, compared to the diesel engine, but have good
efficiency at full power output.

Producer Gas:
Producer gas is made by flowing air and steam through a thick coal or coke bed which ranges
in temperature from red hot to low temperature. The oxygen in the air burns the carbon to CO2.
This CO2 gets reduced to CO by contacting with carbon above the combustion zone. Steam gets
dissociated, which introduces H2 and the freed O2 combines with the carbon. Producer gas has a

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high percentage of N2, since air is used. Thus, it has a low heat value.

Blast Furnace Gas: ot

Blast furnace gas is a byproduct of melting iron ore in steel plants. Its analysis varies
considerably with the fuel used and the method or operating the blast furnace. It consists
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principally CO and N2. It is similar to producer gas and has a low heat value. It contains lot of
dust particles and therefore should be cleaned thoroughly.
Coke Oven Gas:
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Coke oven gas is obtained as a byproduct when making coke. Its analysis depends upon the
coal used and also upon the method of operating the oven. The volatile portion of coal is driven
off by the application of heat, and the heavier hydrocarbons are cracked, which results in a gas
high in H2 and CH4. its heat value per cubic meter is only about one half that of natural gas.
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Benzol:
Benzol is a coal tar distillate that consists of about 70 percent benzene (C6H6), 20 percent
toluene (C7H8) and 10 percent xylene (C8H10) and trace amounts of sulphur burning
compounds. It has high antiknock characteristic. It has a freezing point of 6°C, which eliminates
it as a fuel in cold climates. Its specific gravity is 0.88, specific heat 0.4, latent heat of
vaporization about (190 btu/lb) and viscosity about 20 SSU. It is considerably less detonation
than gasoline. As such compression ratio up to 6.9 can be used. When added to gasoline it
improves the antiknock effect. About 20% of benzol addition is found to stop knocking in most
gasoline engines.
Acetone: Acetone (C3H60) is more volatile than methanol. This may be used as a fuel without
blending with other more volatile fuels. Its antiknock quality is higher than of butanol. As such it
is a desirable fuel to blend with butanol.
Diethyl Ether:
 Diethyl ether (C4H10O) is very volatile fuel. It’s used with other fuels to increase the
volatility blend. In summary it may be stated that with increasing pollution problems and
petroleum shortage looming on the horizon, major research and development programs are being
conducted throughout the world to find suitable alternate fuels to supply engine needs for the
coming decade
Compare petrol and LPG

Sl.
Petrol Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)
No.

Compared to petrol, running the engine

1. Fuel consumption in petrol engine is
on LPG results in around a 10%
less when compared to LPG.
increase in consumption

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LPG is odourless
2. Petrol has odour
Octane rating of LPG is 110
3. Petrol engine is not as smooth as LPG
engine

4. In order to increase octane number

petrol required lead additives
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Due to higher octane rating, the
combustion of LPG is smoother and
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knocking is eliminated and the engine
runs smoothly.

LPG is lead-free with high octane

5. The mixture of petrol and air always
number.
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leaks past the piston rings and washes

away the lubricating oil from the upper
When LPG leaks past the rings into the
cylinder wall surfaces in the process.
crankcase, it does not wash oil from
This results in lack of lubricant which
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cylinder walls and does not generate

causes more wear. It also carries with
black carbon. Hence, the lubricating
it unburnt fuel components and falls
layer is not washed away. Thereby, the
into the engine oil. Thus the life of
engine life is increased by 50%
petrol engine is shorter.
Due to absence of carbon deposits on
6. Due to formation of carbon deposits on
the electrodes to the spark plugs, the life
the spark plugs, the life of the spark
of the spark plugs is increased.
plugs is shortened.
The vaporizer functions as the
7. Carburetor supplies the mixture of
carburetor when the engine runs on
petrol and air in the proper ratio to the
LPG. It’s a control device that reduces
engine cylinders for combustion.
LPG pressure, vaporizes it and supplies
to the engine with a regular flow of gas
as per the engine requirement.
HYDROGEN ENGINES: Hydrogen is another alternate fuel tried for IC engines.
Investigations were carried out extensively in any countries. The most attractive features of
hydrogen as an IC engine fuel are that it can be produced from a potentially available raw
material, water, and the main product of its combustion again is water.
Hydrogen has very low density both as gas and as liquid. Hence, in spite of

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its high calorific value on mass basis its energy density as a liquid is only one fourth that of
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gasoline. As a gas it has less than one tenth the density of air and its heating value per unit
volume is less than one third that of methane. This is one of its chief disadvantages. Hydrogen
has to be stored as compressed gas, as liquid (in cryogenic containers) or in absorbed form (as
metal hydrides), none of which is as convenient as gasoline storage.
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Hydrogen has extremely wide ignition limits. This allows a spark ignition
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engine to operate on hydrogen with very little throttling, a decided advantage. Stoichiometric
hydrogen air mixture burns seven times as fast as the corresponding gasoline air mixture. This
too is a great advantage in IC engines, leading to higher self-ignition temperature but requires
very little energy to ignite it. Hence, it is highly prone to preignition and backflash in SI engines.
Adiabatic flame temperature for hydrogen is a little lower than for
gasoline but the rapid combustion allows very little heat loss to the surrounding and hence, high,
instantaneous, local temperatures are produced. This leads to high nitric oxide formation.
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Hydrogen can be used in SI engines by three methods:

 By manifold induction.

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By direct introduction of hydrogen into the cylinder.

 By supplementing gasoline.

In the manifold introduction of hydrogen cold hydrogen is introduced

through a valve controlled passage into the manifold. This helps to reduce the risk of back flash.
The power output of the engine is limited by two factors, preignition and back flash. Also the
energy content of air hydrogen mixture is lower than that of liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
In the direct introduction of hydrogen into the cylinder, hydrogen is
stored in the liquid form, in a cryogenic cylinder. A pump, pumps this liquid through a small heat
exchanger where it is converted into cold hydrogen gas.

The metering of the hydrogen is also done in this unit. The cold hydrogen helps to prevent
preignition and also reduces NOx formation. Hydrogen can also be used as a supplementary fuel
to gasoline in SI engines. In this system, hydrogen is inducted along with gasoline, compressed
and ignited by a spark. The arrangements of liquid hydrogen storage and details of hydrogen
induction into SI engine cylinder can be seen in below fig..
There are two methods by which hydrogen can be used in diesel engines.

 By introducing hydrogen with air and using a spray of diesel oil to ignite the mixture that is
by the dual fuel mode. The limiting conditions are when the diesel quantity is too small to
produce effective ignition, that is failure of ignition and when the hydrogen air mixture is
so rich that the combustion becomes unacceptable violent. In between these limits a wide
range of diesel to hydrogen proportion can be tolerated. Investigation show that beyond a
certain range (30 to 50% substitution of diesel fuel by hydrogen), further introduction leads
to violent pressure rise.
 By introducing hydrogen directly into the cylinder at the end of compression. Since the self
ignition temperature of hydrogen is very high, the gas spray is made to impinge on a hot
glow plug in the combustion chamber-that is by surface ignition. It is also possible to feed a
very lean hydrogen air mixture during the intake into an engine and then inject the bulk of

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the hydrogen towards the end of the compression stroke.
 Since hydrogen is a highly reactive fuel it requires great car in handling. Flash black
arresters have to be provided between the engine and the storage tank to prevent flash back
from going to the tank. ot
NATURAL GAS, LPG, BIOGAS PRODUCER GAS, BLAST FURNACE GAS, COKE OVEN GAS,
BENZOL, ACETONE & DIETHYL ETHER
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Natural Gas: Natural gas is found in various localities in oil and gas bearing sanstrata located at
various depths below the earths surface. The gas is usually under considerable pressure, and
flows out naturally from the oil well. Ti the gas is used in an engine located near the well any
entrained sand must be separated form the gas before its use.
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Natural gas obtained from oil wells is called casing head gas. It is usually
treated for the recovery of gasoline. After this, it is called dry gas. It is delivered into the pipeline
systems to be used as fuel. Natural gas can be used in the production of natural gasoline.
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Natural gas is a mixture of components, consisting mainly of methane (60-95%)

with small amounts of other hydrocarbon fuel components. The composition varies considerably
from place to place and from time to time. But usually contain a large amount of methane (CH4)
and small amount of ethane C2H5.
In addition it contains various amounts of N2, CO2, He, and traces of other gases. Its sulphur
content ranges from very little (sweet) to larger amounts (sour). It is stored as compressed natural
gas (CNG) at pressure of 16 to25 bar, or as liquid natural gas (LNG) at pressure of 70 to210 bar
and a temperature around- 160ºC. As a fuel, it works best in an engine system with a single-
throttle body fuel injector. This gives a longer mixing time, which is needed by this fuel. Tests
using CNG in various sized vehicles continue to be conducted by government agencies and
private industry.
Advantages of Natural Gas:

 Octane number is around 120, which makes it a very good SI engine fuel. One reason for
this high octane number is a fast flame speed. Engines can operate wih a high
compression ratio.
 Low engine emissions. Less aldehydes than with methanol.
 Fuel is fairly abundant worldwide. It can be made from coal but the process of making is
very costly.
Disadvantages of Natural Gas:

 Low energy density resulting in low engine performance.

 Low engine volumetric efficiency because it is a gaseous fuel.
 Need for large pressurized fuel storage tank. There is some safety concern with a
pressurized fuel tank.
 Refueling is a slow process.

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Some very large stationary CI engines operate on a fuel combination of
methane and diesel fuel. Methane is the major fuel, amounting to more than 90% of the total. It
is supplied to the engine as a gas through high-pressure pipes. A small amount of high grade, low
sulfur diesel is used for ignition purposes. ot
The net result is very clean running engines. These engines would also be good
power plants for large ships, except that high-pressure gas pipes are undesirable on ships.
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Compressed Natural Gas:
Petroleum and natural gas are obtained by the process of drilling wells. As already known
crude petroleum is composed of hydrocarbons. It contains some amount of water, sulphur and
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other impurities. Petroleum when mixed with natural gas produce a highly volatile liquid. This
liquid is known as natural gasoline. When this petroleum-natural gas mixture is cooled, the
gasoline condenses.
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The natural gas can be compressed and then it is called Compressed Natural Gas
(CNG). CNG is used to run an automobile vehicle just like LPG. The CNG fuel feed system is
similar to the LPG fuel feed system. CNG conversion kits are used o convert petrol driven cars
into CNG-driven cars. These kits contain auxiliary parts like the converter, mixer and other
essential parts required for conversion.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG):
Propane and butane are obtained from oil and gas wells. The are also the products
of the petroleum refining process. For automobile engines, two types of LPG are used. One is
propane and the other is butane. Sometimes, a mixture of propane and butane is used as liquid
petroleum gas in automobile engines. Liquid petroleum gasses serve as fuel in place of petrol.
They are used widely in buses, cars and trucks. Liquid petroleum gases are compressed and
cooled to form liquid. This liquid is kept in pressure tanks which are sealed.
Advantages and Disadvantages of LPG:
Liquefied petroleum gas has higher potential as an alternate fuel for IC engines.
Compared to natural gas which has more positive points. Let us first see the advantages and
disadvantages of using LPG.

Advantages:

 LPG contains less carbon than petrol. LPG powered vehicle produces 50 per cent less
carbon monoxide per kilometer, though only slightly less nitrogen compounds. Therefore
emission is much reduced by the use of LPG.
 LPG mixes with air at all temperatures.
 In multi-cylinder engines a uniform mixture can be supplied to all cylinders.
 There is no crankcase dilution, because the fuel is in the form of vapour.
 Automobile engines can use propane, if they have high compression ratios (10:1)
 LPG has high antiknock characteristics.
 Its heat energy is about 80 per cent of gasoline, but its high octane value compensates the

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thermal efficiency of the engine.
 Running on LPG translates into a cost saving of about 50%.
 The engine may have a 50 per cent longer life.
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Disadvantages:

 Engines are normally designed to take in a fixed volume of the mixture of fuel and air.
Therefore LPG will produce 10 per cent less horse power for a given engine, at full
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throttle.
 The ignition temperature of LPG is somewhat higher than petrol. Therefore running on
LPG could lead to a five per cent reduction in valve life.
 A good cooling system is quite necessary, because LPG vaporizer uses engine coolant to
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provide he heat to convert the liquid LPG to gas.

 The vehicle weight is increased due to the use of heavy pressure cylinders for storing
LPG.
 A special fuel feed system is required for liquid petroleum gas.

Biogas:
Biogas is another alternate fuel tried in diesels. Biogas can be produced by anaerobic
digestion of organic matter. Potential raw materials available on a large scale are cow dung,
municipal wastes, and plants specially grown for this purpose like Water Hyacinth, Algae,
certain types of grasses. The main advantages of bio-gas is that it can be produced in rural areas
from readily available materials. Bio gas consists mainly of methane and carbon dioxide. Its
calorific value is low but its knock resistance (octane number) is high and ignition quality
(certain number) is low.
 In dual fuel type diesel engine, the gas is mixed with the incoming air and ignited by
pilot diesel fuel injection. Similar to the behaving of alcohol diesel oil dual fuel engines, this gas
engine also suffers a fall in efficiency at part loads, compared to the diesel engine, but have good
efficiency at full power output.
Producer Gas:
Producer gas is made by flowing air and steam through a thick coal or coke bed which
ranges in temperature from red hot to low temperature. The oxygen in the air burns the carbon to
CO2. This CO2 gets reduced to CO by contacting with carbon above the combustion zone.
Steam gets dissociated, which introduces H2 and the freed O2 combines with the carbon.
Producer gas has a high percentage of N2, since air is used. Thus, it has a low heat value.
Blast Furnace Gas:
Blast furnace gas is a byproduct of melting iron ore in steel plants. Its analysis varies
considerably with the fuel used and the method or operating the blast furnace. It consists

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principally CO and N2. It is similar to producer gas and has a low heat value. It contains lot of
dust particles and therefore should be cleaned thoroughly.

Coke Oven Gas:

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Coke oven gas is obtained as a byproduct when making coke. Its analysis depends upon
the coal used and also upon the method of operating the oven.
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The volatile portion of coal is driven off by the application of heat, and the heavier
hydrocarbons are cracked, which results in a gas high in H2 and CH4. its heat value per cubic
meter is only about one half that of natural gas.
Benzol: Benzol is a coal tar distillate that consists of about 70 percent benzene (C6H6), 20
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percent toluene (C7H8) and 10 percent xylene(C8H10) and trace amounts of sulphur burning
compounds. It has high antiknock characteristic. It has a freezing point of 6°C, which eliminates
it as a fuel in cold climates. Its specific gravity is 0.88, specific heat 0.4, latent heat of
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vaporization about (190 btu/lb) and viscosity about 20 SSU. It is considerably less detonation
than gasoline. As such compression ratio up to 6.9 can be used. When added to gasoline it
improves the antiknock effect. About 20% of benzol addition is found to stop knocking in most
gasoline engines.
Acetone: Acetone (C3H60) is more volatile than methanol. This may be used as a fuel without
blending with other more volatile fuels. Its antiknock quality is higher than of butanol. As such it
is a desirable fuel to blend with butanol.
Diethyl Ether: Diethyl ether (C4H10O) is very volatile fuel. Its used with other fuels to increase
the volatility blend.
In summary it may be stated that with increasing pollution problems and
petroleum shortage looming on the horizon, major research and development programs are being
conducted throughout the world to find suitable alternate fuels to supply engine needs for the
coming decades.
 DIFFERENT TYPES OF EMISSIONS
Internal combustion engines generate undesirable emissions during combustion process.
In this both SI and CI engines are equally responsible for the same. The emissions exhausted into
the surroundings pollute the atmosphere and causes the following problems.

 global warming

 acid rain

 smog

 odours

 respiratory and other health hazards

The major causes of these emissions are non stoichiometric combustion, dissociation of nitrogen
and impurities in fuel and air. The emissions of concern are unburnt hydrocarbons, oxides of carbon,

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nitrogen, sulphur and also solid carbon particulates.
ENGINE EMISSIONS: Engine emissions can be classified into
1. exhaust emissions and
2. non-exhaust emissions
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EXHAUST EMISSIONS: As already mentioned major exhaust emissions are
1. unburnt hydrocarbons
2. oxides of carbon,
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3. oxides of nitrogen,
4. oxides of sulphur,
5. particulates,
6. soot and smoke.
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The first four are common to both SI and CI engines and the last two are mainly
from CI engines. The main non-exhaust emission is the unburn hydrocarbon from fuel
tank and crankcase blowby.
Fig shows the variation of HC,CO and NOx emissions as a function of
equivalence ratio for an SI engine. It is clearly seen that all the three emissions are strong
function of equivalence ratio.
EMISSION CONTROL METHODS: It is noted that combustion process in the four-stroke clce
occur only for about 25 to 50 ms depending upon the operating conditions. After the combustion
process ends, the exhaust gas constituents in the cylinder gas mixture that have been partially
burned continue to react during the expansion stroke, during exhaust blow down, and into the
exhaust process. Over 90 to 95% of the HC remaining after combustion reacts during this time
either in the cylinder near the exhaust port, or in the upstream part of the exhaust manifold. CO
and small component hydrocarbons react with oxygen form CO₂ and H₂O and reduce undesirable
emissions. The higher their exhaust temperature, the more these secondary reactions occur and the
lower the engine emissions. Higher exhaust temperature can be caused by stoichiometric air-fuel
combustion, high engine speed, spark, and or a low expansion ratio. Hence, in order to reduce
emissions, some after-treatment are necessary with add on devices. The details are discussed in
the following sections.
THERMAL CONVERTERS: Secondary reactions occur much more readily and completely if
the temperature is high. So some engines are equipped with thermal converters as a means of
lowering emissions. Thermal converters are high-temperature chamber through which the
exhaust gas flows. They promote oxidation for the CO and HC which remain in the exhaust...

CO + ½ O₂ → CO₂
For this reaction o occur at a useful rate, the temperature must be held above 700°C. Now
consider the reaction
Cx Hy +zO₂ → x CO₂ +y H₂O
Where

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z= x+0.25y
The above reaction needs a temperature above 600°C for at least 50 milliseconds to
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substantially reduce HC. It is therefore necessary for a thermal converter to be effective, it
should operate at a high temperature. Further, it should also be large enough to provide adequate
residence time of the exhaust gases to promote the occurrence of these secondary reaction. Most
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thermal converters are essentially an enlarged exhaust manifold connected to the engine
immediately outside the exhaust pots. This is necessary to minimize heat losses and keep the
exhaust gases from cooling to nonreacting temperatures.
CATALYTIC CONVERTERS: The most effective aftertreatment for reducing engine
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emissions is the catalytic converter found on most automobiles and other modern engine of
medium or large size. CO and HC can be oxidezed to CO₂ and H₂O in exhaust systems and
thermal converters if the temperature needed to sustain these oxidation processes is reduced 250-
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300°C, making for a much more attractive system.

A catalyst is substance that accelerates a chemical reaction
lowering he energy needed for it to proceed. The catalytic is consumed in the reacting and so
function indefinitely unless graded by heat, age, contaminants, or other factors. Catalytic
converters are chambers mounted in the flow system through which exhaust gases pass through.
These chambers contain catalytic serial, which promotes the oxidation of the emissions
contained in exhaust flow.
Generally, catalytic converters are called three-way converters
because they are used to reduce the concentration of CO, HC and NOx the exhausted. Catalytic
converter is usually a stainless steel container mounted somewhere along the exhaust pipe and
the engine. Inside the container is a porous ceramic structure through which the exhaust gas
flows. In most converters, the ceramic is a single honey comb granular ceramic with the gas
passing between the packed. Volume of the ceramic structure of a converter is generally out half
he displacement volume of he engine. This results in volumetric flow rate of exhaust gas such
that there are 5 to 30 hangovers of gas each second, through the converter. Catalytic converters
for CI engines need larger flow passages because of the soot in the exhaust gases
NO + CO → ½ N₂ + CO₂

2 NO +5 CO + 3 H₂O → 2 NH₃ + 5 CO₂

NO + CO → N₂O + O₂
VARIOUS CHEMICAL POLLUTANTS FROM THE ENGINES

HYDROCARBON EMISSION: It is evident that it is a strong function o air-fuel ratio. With a

fuel-rich mixture there is no enough oxygen to react with all the carbon, resulting in high levels
of HC and CO in the exhaust products. This is particularly true during starting, when the air-fuel
mixture is purposely made very rich. It is also true to a lesser extent during rapid acceleration
under load. If air-fuel ratio is too lean poorer combustion occurs, again resulting in HC
emissions. The extreme of poor combustion for a cycle is total misfire. This occurs more often as
air-fuel ratio is made leaner. One misfire out of 1000 cycles gives exhaust emissions of 1 gm/kg

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of fuel. The causes for hydrocarbon emissions from SI engine are:

 Incomplete combustion


Crevice volumes and flow in crevicesui

Leakage past the exhaust valve

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 Valve overlap

 Deposits on walls
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 Oil on combustion chamber walls

Discuss in details the various causes listed above.
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HYDROCARBON EMISSION FROM CI ENGINES:

The components I diesel fuel have higher molecular weights average than those in a
gasoline blend, and this results in high boiling and condensing temperatures. Therefore, soot
formation more in CI engines. Some HC particles condenses onto the surface of the solid carbon
soot that is generated during combustion. Most of this is burned as mixing continues and he
combustion process proceeds. Only a small percentage of the original carbon soot is formed
comes out of the cylinder.
The HC components condenses on the surface of the carbon particles, in addition to the
solid carbon particles themselves, contribute to the HC emissions of the engine.
It is important that injectors be constructed such that when injection stops there is no
dribble. However, a small amount of liquid will be trapped on the tip of the nozzle. This very
small volume fuel is called sac volume, its size depending on the nozzle design. This sac volume
of liquid fuel evaporates very slowly because it is surrounded by a fuel rich zone and, once the
injector nozzle closes, there is o pressure pushing it into the cylinder. Some of his fuel does not
evaporate until combustion has stopped, and this increases IC emissions.
CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) EMISSION: Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless but a
poisonous gas. It is generated in an engine when it is operated with a fuel-rich equivalence ratio.
When there is not enough oxygen to convert all carbon to CO₂, some fuel does not burned and
some carbon ends up as CO. typically the exhaust of an SI engine will be about 0.2to5% carbon
monoxide.
CO+1/2 O₂ → CO₂+heat
Maximum CO is generated when an engine runs rich. Rich mixture is required during
starting or when accelerating under load. Even when the intake air-fuel mixture is stoichiometric
or lean, some CO will be generated in the engine. Poor mixing, local rich regions, and
incomplete combustion will also be the source for CO emissions.
OXIDES OF NITROGEN (NOx): Exhaust gases of an engine can have up to 2000 ppm of

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nitrogen. Most of this will be nitrogen oxide (NO), with a small amount of nitrogen dioxide
(NO₂). These are all grouped together NOx with x representing some suitable number. NOx is
very undesirable regulations to reduce NOx emissions continue to become more an d more
stringent year by year. Released NOx reacts in the atmosphere o form ozone and is one of he
major causes of photochemical smog.
O+N₂ → NO+N
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N+ O₂ → NO+O
N+OH → NO+H
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NO, in turn, can further react to form NO₂ by various means, including
NO+H₂O → NO₂+H₂

NO+O₂ → NO₂+O
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In addition to temperature, the formation of NOx depends on pressure and air-fuel ratio.
Combustion duration plays a significant in NOx formation within the cylinder.
PHOTOCHEMICAL SMOG: NOx is one of he primary causes of photochemical smog, which
has become a major problem in many large cities of the world.
Smog is formed by the photochemical reaction of automobile exhaust and atmospheric air in the
presence of sunlight. NO₂ decomposes into NO and monatomic oxygen:

O+O₂ → O₃
PARTICULATES: The exhaust of CI engines contains solid carbon soot particles that is
generated in the fuel-rich zones within the cylinder during combustion. These are seen as exhaust
smoke and cause an undesirable pollution. Maximum density of particulate emissions occurs
when the engine is under load at WOT. At this condition maximum fuel is injected to supply
maximum power, resulting in a rich mixture and poor fuel economy. This can be seen in the
heavy exhaust smoke when a truck or railroad locomotive accelerates up a hill or from a stop.
Soot particles are clusters of solid carbon spheres. These spheres have diameters from
9nm to 90nm (1 nm = 10⁻⁹ m). But most of them are within the range of 15-30 nm. The spheres
are solid carbon with HC and traces of other components absorbed on the surface. An angle soot
particle may contain up to 5000 carbon spheres.
Cx + Hy + z O₂ → a CO₂+ b H₂O+ c CO+ D c(s)
Then, as turbulence of mass motion continue to mix the components in the combustion
chamber, most of these carbon particles C(s) find sufficient oxygen to further react and are
converted to CO₂.

C(s) + O₂ → CO₂
If CI engines are made to operate with an overall soichiometric air-fuel mixture, instead
of overall lean as they do particulate emissions in the exhaust would far exceed acceptable levels.

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ALDEHYDES: Major emission problem when alcohol fuel is used is the generation of
aldehydes, an eye and respiratory irritant. These have the chemical formula of where R denotes
various chemical radicals ot
R-C=O
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SULPHUR: Many fuels used in CI engines contain small amounts of sulphur. When exhausted
in the form of SO₂ and SO₃ (called Sox) they contribute to the acid ram problem of the world.
Unleaded gasoline generally contains 150-550 ppm sulphur by weight. Some
diesel fuels contain up to 5500 ppm by weight, but in the developed countries this is restricted by
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law to a tenth of this value or less.

At high temperatures, sulphur combines with hydrogen o form H₂S and with oxygen to form
SO₂:
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H₂ +S → H₂S

O₂ +S → SO₂
Engine exhaust can contain up to 20ppm of SO₂. SO₂ then combines with oxygen in the air to
form SO₂
2 SO₂ + O₂ → 2 SO₃

These combine with water vapor in the atmosphere to form sulphuric acid (H₂SO₃), which are
ingredients in acid rain

2SO₂ + H₂O → H₂ SO₄

SO₂ + H₂O → H₂ SO₃

 MORDERN EVAPORATIVE EMISSION CONTROL SYSTEM:
Modern evaporative emission control system is illustrated in fig. the fuel tank is gitted to
the vapour-liquid separator which is in the form of a chamber on the fuel tank. Vapou form the
fuel tank goes to the top of the separator where the liquid gasoline separated and sent back to the
fuel tank through the fuel return pipe. A vent valve or a vent hole is provided for the carburettor
for the flow of fuel vapours. This vent hole is connected by a tube to the canister. Fuels vapours
from the float chamber flow through the vent hole and the tube to the canister. The canister
adsorbs the fuel vapours and stores them. Adsorption refers to the process of trappings of the
gasoline vapours by the activated charcoal partifles filled inside the canister. Vapour laden air
from both the fuel thanks and the carburettor passes through the canister. Hydrocarbons (HC) are
lift in the canister due to the process of adsorption, and air leaves from the caniste into the
atmosphere. When an engine is started, the inlet manifold sucks fresh air through the canister.
The fresh air purges the gasoline vapours from the considering is the process by which
the gasoline vapours are removed the charcoal particles inside the canister. The air carries the
carbons (HC) through the purge control solenoid valve to the induction system. The purge

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control solenoid valve is controlled in the Electronic Control Module (ECM) if the Computer
communication Control system in modern automobiles.

MPFI (Multi Point Fuel Injection)

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All Petrol Vehicles are adopted with this technology for better combustion.
MPFI (Multi Point Fuel Injection)
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The fuel injections were used to meet stricter emission norms as it keeps pollutants to bare
minimum and derives the maximum performance out of a vehicle by squeezing out the
maximum mileage even from the last drop of fuel that goes into the engine.

M.P.F.I. means Multi Point Fuel Injection system. In this system each cylinder has number of
injectors to supply/spray fuel in the cylinders as compared to one injector located centrally to
supply/spray fuel in case of single point injection system.
MPFI system injects fuel into individual cylinders after receiving command from the on board
engine management system computer or Engine Control Unit (ECU).
Advantage of M. P. F. I.

(1) More uniform A/F mixture will be supplied to each cylinder, hence the difference in power
developed in each cylinder is minimum. Vibration from the engine equipped with this system is
less, due to this the life of engine components is improved.

(2) No need to crank the engine twice or thrice in case of cold starting as happens in the
carburetor system.

(3) Immediate response, in case of sudden acceleration / deceleration.

(4) Since the engine is controlled by ECM* (Engine Control Module), more accurate amount of

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A/F mixture will be supplied and as a result complete combustion will take place. This leads to
effective utilization of fuel supplied and hence low emission level.

(5) The mileage of the vehicle will be improved.

ECM (Engine Control Module) and its function

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The function of ECM is to receive signal from various sensors, manipulate the signals and send
control signals to the actuators.

Sensors; Sensing different parameters (Temperature, Pressure, Engine Speed etc.) of the engine
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and send signal to ECM.

Actuators; Receives control signal from ECM and does function accordingly (ISCA, PCSV,
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Injectors, Power Transistor etc.)

Case I: If ECM fails to send control signal to all actuators then the engine won’t get started.
Case II: If ECM fails to service from all sensors then also the engine won’t get started

CRDI Function

A pump inhales the fuel from the tank (ELECTRONIC PUMP) and continuously sends the
quantity of requested fuel towards a second pump (HIGH PRESSURE PUMP) by making it pass
first through the fuel filter that purifies it from any impurity which would cause a premature wear
of its components. The high-pressure pump compresses the fuel at a pressure of 1350 bar and
transfers it through a connection pipe to the high-pressure accumulation duct (Rail). This tank
develops the function of mitigating the pressure oscillations caused by the opening and closing of
the injectors and by the continuous discharges of the pump. The fuel is then transferred from the
Rail through some connection pipes to the electronic injectors, which – instructed by an
electromagnetic valve –inject the correct amount of fuel directly into the combustion chamber of
the engine.

The fuel in excess, required for the opening of the nozzles, is sent back to the tank along with the
leakages of fuel coming from the pressure regulation valve and from the high pressure pump
itself. In this type of system, the quantity of injection is being established by the driver through
the accelerator pedal while the initial stage and the pressure of injection are calculated and
controlled by the electronic control unit (EDC). Through the accelerator pedal’s sensor, the
electronic control unit registers the driver’s intention while, thanks to other sensors, it registers
the exercising conditions of the engine and vehicle and – according to the information acquired –

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it carries out the intervention for the engine regulation
The power supply of the fuel is divided into low-pressure circuit and high-pressure circuit.
The low-pressure circuit is made of:
- auxiliary immersed electronic pump
- diesel filter;
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- leakage manifold
The high-pressure circuit is made of:
-pressure pump;
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- repair collector
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