Comparative Study of Emissions and Performance of Hythane Boosted SI Engine Powered by Gasoline-Methanol Blend and Gasoline-Ethanol Blend

The continued reliance on fossil fuel energy resources is not sufficient to cater to the current energy demands. The excessive and continuous use of crude oil is now recognized as unviable due to its depleting supplies and elevating environmental degradation by increased emissions from automobile exhaust. There is an urgent need for a renewable and cleaner source of energy to meet the stringent emission norms. Hythane is a mixture of 20% hydrogen and 80% methane. It has benefits of low capital and operating costs and is a cleaner alternative than crude oil. It significantly reduces tailpipe emissions and is the cheapest way to meet new emission standards that is BS-IV. Hythane produces low carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and hydrocarbons (HC) on combustion than crude oil and helps in reduction of greenhouse gases. This paper investigates hythane enrichment performed on an SI engine fuelled with gasoline-methanol and gasoline-ethanol blends to deduce its benefits over pure gasoline operation. This experiment was carried on a single cylinder, air cooled spark ignition engine altered for hythane injection in the intake manifold prior to the port keeping the injection timing constant all through the experiment. Ethanol and Methanol are extensively used as alternative fuels due to their high octane number and self-sustaining concept which can be supplied regardless of fossil fuels. These fuels were selected on the basis of their advantage of easy blending and the effect of hythane boosting on the parameters is noted. Criteria such as brake power, brake thermal efficiency and emissions were collated for both methanol and ethanol with hythane enrichment.