Fundamental investigation of SI engine performance fueled with nB40 and isoB40 gasoline blend

The use of alternative fuels has become an attractive and sustainable energy resource in current times. The main reason for reliance on these fuels is their low emission characteristics during the combustion process. The isomers of butanol can be added in limited lean fractions to optimize the engine's performance. In this paper, the performance of a 4-stroke transistorized Spark Ignition (SI) engine is investigated with the help of 40 % n-butanol and iso-butanol blends (nB40 and isoB40) in pure gasoline. For this purpose, the fuel is experimented on the GP-160 engine manufactured by Honda to check basic engine performance parameters, including Torque, Brake horsepower (BHP) Brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) respectively. The results indicate that the maximum percentage change in Engine Torque, Brake horsepower (BHP) and Brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) is found to be 11%, 5% and 31% respectively. Furthermore, the average percentage rise in torque, brake power and brake specific fuel consumption is 6%, 0.5% and 16.4% obtained from the comparison of both fuel samples. Brake thermal efficiency (BTE) was measured at 15% for gasoline, 20% for nB40, and 23% for isoB40, indicating a significant improvement with butanol blends. Overall, this study contributes towards insights about the behavior of nB40 and isoB40 in combustion and cleaner fuel-efficient systems. The work also provides detail of engine fuel economy, efficiency and proven reliability on butanol blends.