Jatin H. Vaghela et al.
/ (IJAEST) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
Investigation of performance and emissions of
2- stroke Single Cylinder SI Engine operating on
Alcohol–Gasoline fuel blends using 4-spark plugs
A new kind of ignition
Jatin H. Vaghela
Indus Institute of Technology & Engineering
Automobile Department
Ahmedabad-Gujarat, India
jatinvaghela13@yahoo.co.in
Abstract—In this study, the effects of ethanol–gasoline
(E5, E10) & methanol–gasoline (M5, M10) fuel blends
and 4-spark plugs ignition are investigated on 2- stroke
single cylinder SI engine for analysing the performance
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and combustion characteristics. The tests were
performed using an electric dynamometer while
running the engine at constant speed of 3000 rpm and
at four different engine load conditions (0.5, 1, 1.5 2
kW). The results obtained from the use of alcohol–
gasoline fuel blends with 4-spark plugs are compared to
those of single conventional SI engine. The results
indicated that when all four spark plugs and alcohol–
gasoline fuel blends were used, the brake specific fuel
consumption (BSFC) and exhaust emission are
decreased. Exhaust gases namely, carbon dioxides
A
(CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and total unburned
hydrocarbons (HC) are measured using multi exhaust
gas analyser. Performance and exhausts emissions are
compared with conventional gasoline engine with all
working 4-spark plugs, using alcohol-gasoline fuel
blends. This ignition system shows significant
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improvement for exhaust emission and also fuel
consumptions at different load conditions.
Keywords- 4- spark plugs, Alcohol gasoline blend,
emission & performance measurement, 2- stroke engine
The uses of automobiles are increasing day by
day and in Ahmedabad alone more than 500 vehicles
undergo R.T.O clearance everyday. Increasing global
concern due to air pollution has generated much
interest in the environmental friendly alternative fuels.
Alternative fuels for IC engines are also becoming
important because of diminishing gasoline reserves
and increasing air pollution. Methanol and ethanol are
good candidates as alternative fuels since they are
ISSN: 2230-7818 @ 2011 http://www.ijaest.iserp.org. All rights Reserved.
Vol No. 6, Issue No. 1, 027 - 030
Akshay A. Pujara
Research Scholar,
S.V. National Institute of Technology,
Surat, Gujarat.
T
liquids and have several physical and chemical
properties similar to those of gasoline and diesel fuels.
Also one of method is new concept of ignition Four
Spark – ignition, in a combustion chamber improves
the rate of combustion in a simple but novel way. The
cylinder head is equipped with four spark plugs,
instead of the conventional single spark plug shown in
figure. The spark is generated simultaneously at four
different locations in the combustion chamber. The
Air-Fuel mixture gets ignited simultaneously such
that, there are four flame fronts created and therefore
significant reduction in flame travel for complete
combustion in the chamber. The rate of combustion
improves considerably which also leads to a fast rate
of pressure rise. The obvious outcome of such
phenomena is to improve the emissions and also
efficiency of the engine. Indeed, when Henry Ford
designed his first automobile (Model T), it was built
to run on both gasoline and pure ethanol. However, in
the past, ethanol was not given expectancy due to its
insufficient production and high price. Ethanol can be
produced from biomass such as sugar cane, sugar
beet, wood, corn, and other grain. The production of
ethanol from biomass sources involves fermentation
and distillation of crop. Ethanol is biodegradable and
will evaporate quickly. Methanol can be produced
from natural gas, gasification of coal or biomass.
However, coal is not preferred as a feedstock because
conversion process is complex and costly than using
other feedstock in commercial methanol production.
Both methanol and ethanol have much higher octane
number than gasoline. This allows to alcohol engines
to have much higher compression ratios, and so
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Vol No. 6, Issue No. 1, 027 - 030

increasing thermal efficiency. Nevertheless, a
significant disadvantage of methanol and ethanol
relative to gasoline is that they have lower energy
content and high production cost. Many additives can
be added to gasoline to enhance the combustion
efficiency and engine performance. The addition of
high octane oxygenated fuel to gasoline is very
important.
I. MODIFICATIONS
methanol + 90% unleaded gasoline). The tests were
conducted on engine, which has a single-cylinder, two
stroke, and carburetor system 4SI engine (modified with
four spark plugs in single cylinder), placed on a electric
dynamometer. Engine specifications are shown in figure.
Air consumption was measured using a sharp edged
orifice plate manometer. Fuel consumption was determined
by measuring burette used for a period of time on a scale
with a precision of 1cc. Two different digital
thermocouples monitored the temperatures of engine
exhaust and room. The concentrations of exhaust emission
(CO, HC, and CO2) were measured by multi exhaust gas
analyzer. The schematic diagram of the experimental setup
is shown in figure 2. The tests were carried out under

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steady-state conditions. Four different loads (0.5–2 kW
with an increment of 0.5 kW) at constant 3000 rpm engine
speeds were selected for the performance tests. The fuel
properties of pure alcohols were obtained from the
manufacture companies and literature. All tests were
compared with single conventional single park plug engine.
ES To prevent the confusion about the engine and vehicle
performance characteristics, the engine torque outputs
obtained in the experiments are shown in figures.

TABLE I.
Engine make and model
ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS
Bajaj engine

Engine type Four stroke, Single cylinder air

cooled
engine
Bore 70mm 70mm
Fig. 1 Ignition Circuit Diagram of and modified head
Stroke 90mm
A
Here, the timing of ignition of spark for single and four Cubic capacity 100 cc
plugs is not altered. It remains at the same time which was Rated power 5.2 kW
originally designed for the two stroke scooter engine. The Rated speed 6500 rpm
Fuel Gasoline
modification carried in cylinder head includes simultaneous
spark by one out of four selected spark plugs, removal of
magneto, as originally available with the engine and .
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replaced by four ignition coils (one for each spark plug).

The contact breaker of the original magneto system was
used for ignition. Electrical supply was provided by 12
volts parallel connected battery. The ignition circuit with
four numbers of simultaneous sparks is shown in figure 1.
Simultaneous four sparks is provided by discharging
capacitor through sparkplug where high voltage is
generated at tip of the plug which provides spark in the
combustion chamber.

II. FUELS AND METHODS

Unleaded gasoline was blended with ethanol and
methanol to prepare four different blends on a volume
Fig. 2 Experiment setup
basis. These are E5 (5% ethanol + 95% unleaded gasoline),
E10 (10% ethanol + 90% unleaded gasoline), M5 (5%
methanol + 95% unleaded gasoline), and M10 (10%

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Jatin H. Vaghela et al. / (IJAEST) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. BSFC
The comparison of BSFC for test fuels with four
spark plugs is shown in figure 3. At the engine speed
of 3000 rpm, BSFC for E5, E10, M5 and M10
increased by 2.8%, 3.6%, 0.6% and 3.3%,
respectively, compared to those of unleaded gasoline
conventional spark plug ignition. As seen in the
figure 3, at the engine speed of 3000 rpm, BSFC for
gasoline at the engine powers of 1.5 kW is lower than
that of E5, E10, M5 and M10. However, the
maximum BSFC was obtained at the 2 kW in the
gasoline test. Indeed, these upward trends in BSFC
with the use of E5, E10, M5 and M10 are normal due
to the lower energy content of the alcohols. The heat
of evaporation of ethanol is higher than that gasoline,
both on a mass basis and on a volume basis. This
means that the engine needs a lower fuel amount of
ethanol or methanol to produce the same wheel
power in a gasoline fueled engine. Thus, use of
ethanol–gasoline or methanol– gasoline fuel blends
conventional ignition system.
0.80
0.70
0.60
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resulted a slightly decreasing in the fuel consumption
compared to the use of unleaded gasoline
Convetional
engine
E5
0.50
BSFC
0.40 E 10
0.30
0.20 M5
A
0.10
0.00
4.00 8.00 12.00 16.00
Load in kg
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Figure 3. EBSFC graph
B. Brake thermal efficiency
As shown in Fig. 4, brake thermal efficiency
increased with the increasing load. The main reason
for this situation is the decrease in BSFC. At the
engine speed of 3000rpm, the increases in thermal
efficiencies of E5, E10, M5 and M10 are 1.9%, 2.5%,
1.8% and 4.7%, respectively, compared to unleaded
gasoline conventional ignition system. There is a
reduction of 0.8% in the thermal efficiency for E5
when compared to unleaded gasoline. This is because
E10, M5 and M10 fuel blends have more oxygen rate
than E5, the combustion becomes better and so the
thermal efficiency increases. Moreover, the
ISSN: 2230-7818 @ 2011 http://www.ijaest.iserp.org. All rights Reserved.
Vol No. 6, Issue No. 1, 027 - 030
vaporization of the fuel also continues in the
compression stroke when the latent heat of
vaporization increases. Since the fuel absorbs heat
from the cylinder during the vaporization, the
necessity work for compressing the air–fuel mixture
decreases and this situation increases the thermal
efficiency.
30.00 Convetional
BRAKE THERMEL EFFICIENCY
25.00 engine
E5
20.00
15.00
E 10
T
10.00
5.00 M5
0.00
4 8 12 16
Load in kg
C. Emissions analysis
Figure 4. Brake Thermal Efficiency graph
Each emission content is measured for neat
gasoline fuel and blends with E5, E10, M5 and M10,
at the four loads (20%, 40% and 60% of the full load)
at constant engine speed of 3000 rpm. Fig. 5 shows
the carbon monoxide (CO) exhaust emissions for the
neat gasoline fuel and the various percentages of the
ethanol and methanol in its blends. One can observe
that the CO emitted by the E5/gasoline fuel blends is
either equal or lower than that for the corresponding
neat gasoline fuel case, with the reduction being E10
and M10 in the blend with gasoline file bland case.
Conclusively, the emitted CO follows the same
behavior as the emitted soot by the engine, a fact
collectively attributed to the same physical and
chemical mechanisms affecting almost in the same
way, at least qualitatively, the net formation of these
emissions. Fig. 8 shows the total unburned
hydrocarbons (HC) exhaust emissions for the neat
gasoline fuel and the various percentages of the E5,
E10, M5, and M10 in its blends with gasoline fuel.
One can observe that the HC emitted by the E10
/gasoline fuel blends are higher than those for the
corresponding neat gasoline fuel case.
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Jatin H. Vaghela et al. / (IJAEST) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES
Vol No. 6, Issue No. 1, 027 - 030

Convetion emission decreased because of the improvement of

4000 al engine the combustion due to 4-spark plugs effect. Unburned
E5 HC is a product of incomplete combustion which is
3000 related to A/F ratio. It also reduces due to new
HC ppm

E 10 arrangement of spark plugs in cylinder head for multi

2000 ignition.
M5
1000 REFERENCE
M 10 [1]
Bludszuweit; J. Holzapfel; H. Schmidt; N. Kruemmling:
0 Prediction of the Hydrogen Flame in Combustion chambers
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0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Load in KW [2] Bludszuweit; P. Pittermann; A. Stanev: Investigations into
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Engines Running on Heavy Fuel, Proceedings 22nd CIMAC
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[3] Energy and Environmental Analysis, “Benefits and Cost of

T
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0.50
0.00
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Load in KW

Figure 6. CO graph
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M5

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M 10
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0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Load in KW

Figure 7. CO2 graph

IV. CONCLUSION
Adding ethanol to gasoline will lead to a leaner
better combustion. It was experimentally investigated
that adding ethanol and methanol to the blends led to
an increase in the engine brake thermal efficiency
and decreases BSFC.
The lean combustion improves the completeness
of combustion and therefore the CO emission is
expected to be decreased. The oxygen enrichment
generated from ethanol increased the oxygen ratio in
the charge and lead to lean combustion. The CO2

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