Simulation and Experimental Results of a Diesel Engine Operating With Fumigated Ethanol Fuel

Due to the ever growing environmental concern regarding global warming and CO₂ emissions, the use of renewable fuels has become increasingly important. Thus, substituting fossil fuels such as diesel by ethanol from sugar cane can be a good alternative. There are, however, several ways of performing it. One of the simplest methods is to use fumigated ethanol with an electronic fuel injection system, operating in dual fuel mode with the original diesel injection, substituting part of the fuel by ethanol. This paper demonstrates the effects of using fumigated ethanol on performance of a standard power generation 4-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine. The research combines simulation results with experimental validation. Initially, a one-dimensional computational model of the original engine running solely on diesel was created and validated for several power levels. After the model was adjusted and provided consistent results according to the experiments, it was changed for using fumigated ethanol, the same applying to the experimental setup, in which the engine received the ethanol injection hardware. Performance data was simulated, acquired and analyzed. Indicated and brake values were obtained to validate the final computational model and to point out directions for improvement.