Abstract
Ethanol is the most common alternative for conventional gasoline replacement in spark-ignition engines. It holds multiple advantages over other renewable transportation technologies including energy density, distribution infrastructure compatibility and the possibility of efficiency improvement and pollutant emissions reduction. Most of the fuel grade ethanol is dehydrated to a minimum purity of 99,6 % before blending or direct use as fuel. As this process is the main energy consumer of the fuel production, it is clear that a large cost reduction can be realized by dropping or decreasing this energy demand. It was investigated if hydrous ethanol is an interesting fuel for flex fuel vehicles where driving range is not of primary importance. Performance and engine-out emissions of mixtures with 5% v/v, 10% v/v and 20% v/v water were compared to pure ethanol and gasoline on a 4 cylinder 1.8 l PFI production engine.
KEYWORDS – hydrous ethanol, SI engine, biofuels, efficiency, emissions