Experimental investigation of surface ignition using ethanol in a single cylinder 4 stroke lhr compression ignition engine

Abstract

In present scenario a rapid increase in usage of automobiles for transportation and the depletion of fossil fuel had forced researchers to find suitable alternative fuels to be used in Internal Combustion IC engines Keeping the environmental impact and emission norms in mind these alternate fuels have to be renewable and eco-friendly Fuels are mainly classified into solid liquid and gaseous fuels Due to handling and storage problems solid fuels are not used in IC engines The gaseous fuels that are used are Liquefied Petroleum Gas LPG natural gas hydrogen biogas and producer gas These gaseous fuels are clean burning fuels which give increased engine performance and low emissions However for using these gaseous fuels in diesel engines the engine needs to be modified The liquid fuels that are used are alcohols and vegetable oils Liquid fuels are easy to handle transport and store and does not require any major modifications in engine as required by gaseous fuels Most of the countries across the globe have been using these liquid alternate fuels in order to lower the dependency on the fossil fuels The depletion of fossil fuels has led to investigations on the fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel Ethanol and vegetable oils have played an important role for more than 70 years in many countries all over the world Since 19th century ethanol has been used as fuel for Compression Ignition CI engines By fermenting and distilling the biomasses ethanol can be obtained and hence it can be considered as a renewable fuel newline