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Study of Spark Ignition Engine Fueled with Methanol/Gasoline Fuel Blends

LIU SHENGHUA;HU TIEGANG;LIANG XIAOQIANG;ZHOU LONGBAO Dept. of Automotive Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University Abstract
A 3-cylinder PFI engine was adopted to study engine power, torque, fuel economy, emissions including regulated and non-regulated pollutants and cold start performance with the fuel of low fraction methanol in gasoline. Without any retrofit of the engine, experiments show that the engine power and torque will decrease with the increase fraction of methanol in the fuel blends under WOT conditions. However, if spark ignition timing is advanced, the engine power and torque can be improved under WOT operating conditions. Engine thermal efficiency is thus improved in almost all operating conditions. Engine combustion analyses show that the fast burning phase becomes shorter, however, the flame development phase is a little delay. When methanol/gasoline fuel blends being used, the engine emissions of CO and HC decrease, NOx changes little prior to three-way catalytic converter (TWC). After TWC, the conversion efficiencies of HC, CO and NOx are better. The nonregulated emissions, unburned methanol and formaldehyde, increase with the fraction of methanol, engine speed and load, and generally the maximum concentrations are less than 200 ppm. Experimental tests further prove that methanol and formaldehyde can be oxidized effectively by TWC. During the cold start and warming up process at 5 , with methanol addition into gasoline, HC and CO emissions decrease obviously. HC emission reduces more than 50% in the first few seconds (cold start period) and nearly 30% in the following warming-up period, CO reduces nearly 25% when the engine is fueled with M30. Mean while, the temperature of exhaust increases which is good to light off TWC. Keywords: Methanol; SI Engine; Combustion; Emissions; Cold Start

1. Introduction
Since 1993, China became a net petroleum import country and increasing quickly. In 2005, more than 140 million tons are imported. China is the 2ed big country of petroleum importing, just behind the US. Currently, there are about 31 million automobiles in use, but the running time and fuel consumption are greater. Around 35% of the total 320 million ton petroleum was consumed as fuel by automobiles, where gasoline consumption is some 70 million tons (26 million US gallons). It is predicated that China petroleum import will reach to 200 million tons in 2010, the total automobiles and their fuel consumption will be 50 millions, 140million tons, respectively. To copy with the higher and higher petroleum price and to keep the fast development of automobile industry, alternative fuels are regarded highly. For SI engine powered vehicles, alcohols, methanol and ethanol, are tested and demonstrated in some cities and provinces in China. There were 5 cities taking part in the first stage demonstration of E10 fuel blends since 2002, and more cities and provinces joined in the program in 2004 accordingly.

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The 9 provinces are Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Henan, Anhui, Shandong, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Hubei. It is said that methanol is widely used in commercial gasoline, however, there are only Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces carrying out the demonstration program of M15 or others. More and more governments and companies are paying attentions to the industry for the importance and higher benefit. Methanol shows a prosperous market for its low price and easy obtainment. Coal is comparatively richer than petroleum and natural gas in China It plays 70% role of annual energy balance. These years, its production is about 1.5 billon tons. Because it is easy and economical to be liquefied (CTL) to methanol, more attentions are paid to the application in SI engines. Table 1 compares a parts of the fuel properties, from which the advantages and disadvantages can be summarized as following. Table 1 Comparison of fuel properties Methanol Molecular formula Molecular weight Oxygen content, % Density, kg/m
P

Ethanol C2H5OH
B B B B

Gasoline 95120 0 740 44.3 >90 228470 14.8 305 3810

CH3OH
B B

32 50% 792 20.0 111 465 6.47 1103

P P

46 34.8% 785 26.9 108 425 9.00 840 3864

3
P

LHV, MJ/kg Octane number Auto-temperature, Stoichiometric A/F ratio Latent heat, kJ/kg LHV of stoi-mixture, MJ/m3

3906

(1) LHV of Stoichiometric mixture is similar as gasoline, so the engine power can be remained. However, to keep engine power, more fuel should be delivered because of lower LHV of methanol. Experiments showed that, if the engine was fueled with low fraction methanol/gasoline blends, it runs stably and successfully. (2) With -closed loop control of ECU, the engine can automatically keep the value of near unit accordingly to 14.7. So actually, the reduction of CO and HC emissions are due to the leaner mixture to some extent. Also, the lower of HC and CO emissions was due to the oxygen content of the fuel blends. (3) Higher RON, even if it is blended with gasoline, the octane number of the fuel blend can be increased. Therefore, engine CR can be increased so that engine thermal efficiency and power can be improved. However, the engine CR was remained in this study to make the engine retrofit easily. (4) Thought the latent heat of methanol is higher, measures are not necessary for the mixture preparing due to lower fraction, while it may increase engine volumetric efficiency and thus increase engine power. (5) Methanol has a higher laminar flame propagation speed, which may fasten engine combustion process and thus improve engine thermal efficiency. (6) Uncertainty of potential poisons of formaldehyde emission, corrosion to some materials like rubber and some aluminum alloys.

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So, many researchers and officials in China think that it should take an important role in automobile industry development and petroleum fuel substitute. This paper will carry out further study on the effects of methanol and its fraction on engine power performance, economy, combustion, regulated and nonregulated emission and cold start.
2. Effect of methanol on engine performance

This paper is intended to study engine performance, emissions when it utilizes low fraction of methanol gasoline fuel blends. In this study, a 3-cylinder with a bore of 68.5 mm, total displacement about 0.8 liter PFI engine was adopted and fueled with the prepared fuel blends. Engine performance, emissions including regulated and non-regulated pollutants were studied.

2.1 Engine power and fuel economy

Several kinds of fuel blends were prepared for the different purpose of engine test, containing 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and even 30% of methanol in volume, respectively. The test engine remains its original set of parameters, especially the 7 degree CA spark ignition timing. When it ran on the above 3 fuel blends and based gasoline as showed in figure 1, the WOT operation performance of engine power,
30 25
Ttq/N.m
55 50 45 40 35
et

0.31

0.27

Pe/kW

20 15 10

M10 M15 M20

M10 M15 M20

0.23
M15

0.19

M10 M20

30 5 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 5500 6000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 5500 6000 r/min r/min

0.15 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 5500 6000 r/min

(a) Power

(b) Torque

(c) Brake thermal efficiency

Figure 1 Engine performance under WOT conditions

25 20

500 400 300 200 100 0 1000

15 10 5 0 1000
gasoline M25

BSFC (g/kWh)

Power (kW)

gasoline M25

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

n (r/min)

n (r/min)

(a) Power

(c) Equivalence BSFC

Figure 2 Engine performance under WOT conditions

torque and brake thermal efficiency are measured. With the increase fraction of methanol, engine power and torque decrease, while the brake thermal efficiency is improved. Considering that motors are seldom run on WOT conditions, even when fuel is changed to be M20, it has little effect on power performance.

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However, if the spark ignition time is advanced 2 degrees without any further optimizations, under WOT full load operation conditions, the engine power is almost no reduction, and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) can be decreased as well. This is showed in figure 2.

2.2 Effects on engine combustion characteristics

Cylinder pressure diagram shows that, under the same engine speed and throttle opening, see 50% WOT operation in figure 3, when the engine fueled with M20, the maximum pressure is higher than that of pure gasoline operation. The IMEP are 0.91 MPa for M20 and 0.88 MPa for pure gasoline. Engine thermal efficiencies are 0.284 and 0.262, respectively.

3.5

3.0

2.5
Pressure in-cylinder, [MPa ]

2.0

n=3000 rpm _____ M0% ........... M20%

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

-0.5
0.0

0.2

0.4
Volume [%]

0.6

0.8

1.0

Figure 3 p-V diagram comparisons

0
rapid burn angle/CA

30 27 24 21 18 15 1500

-2 -4
SOC/CA

-6 -8 -10 -12 1500

E20 M15
2000 2500 3000 r.p.m 3500 4000

E10 M10 M20

4500

E20 M15
2000 2500 3000 r.p.m 3500

E10 M10 M20

4000 4500

Figure 4 Engine combustion phases analyses under 30Nm operating conditions

In most cases, the start of combustion is delayed due to the methanol addition, while the rapid burning phase becomes shorter at high speed operating conditions. Figure 4 indicates the changes of SOC and RBP under constant torque of 30 Nm operating conditions. Therefore, if spark ignition time is advanced 2 or 3 degree CA, engine combustion will be centralized near TDC, so engine power and thermal efficiency will be improved.

2.3 Effects on regulated emissions and conversion

The regulated gaseous emissions include CO, HC and NOx. Figure 5 gives a group experimental

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data of engine emissions under 2500 r/min constant engine speed operating conditions. When methanol is added into gasoline, the fuel blend contains more oxygen, which reduces CO and HC emissions. Also, when the engine utilizes fuel blends, after TWC, CO and HC emissions are better then that of pure gasoline operation. The effect on NOx emission is ignorable, neither prior to nor post the TWC. Therefore, methanol used in SI engine can reduce regulated emissions of HC and CO in this study.
1000 800
HC ppm
CO %

3500

M10
0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0

M0
NOx ppm

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0

600 400 200 0 5 15 25 35

M10

M0

M10

M0

15

25

35

15

25

35

torque N m

torque N m

torque N m

Figure 5 Regulated engine emissions characteristics at 2500 r/min

2.4 Effects on nonregulated emissions and conversion

In this study, the unburned methanol and formaldehyde were measured and they are generally called to be nonregulated emissions. Both formaldehyde and methanol are measured by gas chromatography method. The column is PEG type with FID. Figure 6 indicates that methanol emission increases with the increase of engine speed and load, however, methanol contents in fuel blends have no significant direct effects on its emission in the experimental range.
250 200
M0 M10 M20

250

n=2500
200

M0
M10
M20

n=3000

150 100 50 0 0 10 20 30 40 50

methanol ppm

methanol ppm

150 100 50 0 0 10 20 30 40 50

torque Nm

torque Nm

Figure 6 Methanol emissions at different speed and load conditions

Actually, because of cyclic combustion variation of SI engine combustion and the small sampling volume (500 micron liters), the results are not so repeatable. On average, formaldehyde emissions are increased with methanol content, engine speed and load as showed in figure 7. Formaldehyde emission of M20 is about 10 times as high as gasoline; however, the total concentration is still within 200 ppm. With TWC, methanol and formaldehyde can be oxidized effectively. Within the calibration range,

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formaldehyde cant be measured. Comparing the data listed in figure 8, its safe to say that commercial TWC can convert formaldehyde sufficiently.

Formaldehyde / ppm

Formaldehyde / ppm

Light load

Torque / Nm

middle load

high load

Light load

middle load

high load

Torque / Nm

Figure 7 Formaldehyde emissions at different speed and load conditions

uV(x10,000) 10.0 Chromatogram

9.0

Operating con.: M20, n2500r/min, T27Nm Pre_TWC42ppm161ppm3ppm27ppm Post_TWC2.5ppm000

8.0

7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0

Methanol Formaldehyde Aldehyde Ethanol

2.0

1.0

0.0
-1.0
1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

11.0 min

Figure 8 Nonregulated emissions pre and post TWC

2.5 Effects on cold start and warming-up process

FTP tests show that about 80% HC and CO emissions are from cold-start and warm-up periods, so cold-start investigation becomes an important branch in control of engine emissions. And also, there is no report concerned on the combustion and emission characteristics of methanol/gasoline blend fueled engine. Figure 9 shows the characteristics of CO and HC during cold start and warmingup (at 5). When engine fueled with M30, HC and CO are much better than that of gasoline operation. HC emission reduces more than 50% in the first few seconds (cold start period) and nearly 30% in the following period (warming-up). CO reduces nearly 25%. The engine speed is quite similar, while the exhaust temperature is higher, which is good to light off TWC earlier.

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25000

ppmc1

20000 15000 10000 5000 0

12 0 10 8 6 4 2 0

Gasoline
M10
M30

(a) HC

40

80

120

160

200

(b) CO %

Gasolin M10 M30

2500 0

40

80

120

160

200

r/min (c) n

2000 1500 1000 500 0

Gasoline M10 M30

40 80 120 160 200

600 0

dTex

500 400 300 200 100 0 0 40 80 120 160

Gasoline
M10
M30
200

Time/s

Figure 9 Characteristics of cold start and warmingup

3. Conclusion
From this study, it can be concluded that low fraction methanol/gasoline blend can be used in SI engines without any modifications. The fuel blend has slightly lowered the engine power and torque, while increases engine brake thermal efficiency. For better operation, spark timing is optimum. Methanol gasoline blended fuel may lower HC and CO emissions, but there is no obvious effect on TWC conversion efficiency. However, the increase of methanol increases the unburned methanol and formaldehyde emissions. Both the regulated and nonregulated emissions can be converted effectively by conventional TWC.

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The most interesting thing is that methanol addition to gasoline improves the SI engine cold start and lower CO and HC emissions significantly.

Acknowledgment
The authors wish to give thanks to the Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No.20030698002) and the State Basic Research Development Program of China (NO.2001CB209206).

Reference
[1]. Lv Shengchun, Liu Shenghua, "Measurement of Non-regulated Pollutants from SI Engine Fuelled with Methanol/Gasoline Blends", Transaction of CSICE, Vol. 24(1), 2006, pp57--61. [2]. Liu Shenghua, Li Hui, Effects of MethanolGasoline Blend on SI Engine Performance and Emissions, Journal of Xian Jiaotong University, Vol. 40(1), 2006, pp 1-4. [3]. N.A. Heneina, and M.K. Tagomorib. Cold-start hydrocarbon emissions in port-injected gasoline engines. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science Vol.25 (1999), pp: 563-593. [4]. Shenghua Liu,Tiegang Hu and Xiaoqiang Liang. Cold-start Performance of a SI engine Fueled with Methanol/Gasoline blends. Proc. Of Intl. Conference on Engine Combustion, July 10-14, 2006, Tianjin. [5]. Handbook, Shimadzu GC Solution, V2.0.
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