Effect of Blending Methanol and Indolene on the Burning Velocity and Performance in a CFR-S.I. Engine

A study of the burning velocity and performance in a CFR S.I. engine when run on methanol-indolene blends has been completed. The parameters investigated are the burning velocity, brake mean effective pressure, brake specific fuel consumption, thermal efficiency, volumetric efficiency and MBT spark advance over a wide range of compression ratios (5.0 to Knock Limited Compression Ratio) and methanol concentrations (0 to 100%). The charge is heated in the inlet manifold to a uniform temperature of 120 F for all the blends. The results indicated that by adding methanol to indolene, the turbulent and laminar burning velocities increases, MBT spark timing need to be retarded, brake mean effective pressure and volumetric efficiency decrease. Adding methanol to indolene results in an increase in thermal efficiency, Knock Limited Compression Ratio and specific fuel consumption. A method has been developed to calculate the laminar burning velocity in mixtures of methanol-air, indolene-air and methanol-indolene-air. This is a fair agreement between calculations and experimental results.