The increasing ethanol participation in Brazilian fuel market and its supply and price oscillations, motivate studies on multifuel engines behavior with the two specified types of ethanol in Brazil, the anhydrous and the hydrous fuels.
The present work includes a comparative engine test bed performance study of a multi-fuel engine equipped with a programmable electronic central unit (ECU), fueled with anhydrous and hydrous ethanol. Fuel properties, engine performance, emissions and combustion parameters are reported using these two fuels for maximum power operating point.
The programmable ECU was installed in order to make possible the setting of some parameters that are not accessible in engines operating with commercial ECU. This way, torque was optimized regarding spark timing and air fuel ratio, for all selected fuels and engine conditions tested.
Test results presented the effects of anhydrous and hydrous ethanol on a multi-fuel engine performance, emissions and combustion. Additionally, some performance and emissions correlations with combustion parameters are presented.