Publication

Abstract : Increased emission levels are normally experienced in spark ignition (SI) engines at cold start and idling conditions. Carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC) are the main pollutants contained in the exhaust gas. This experimental work indicates a possible solution for reducing HC and CO emissions from a commercial spark ignition engine by blending ethanol with gasoline during the initial conditions. To the commercial available unleaded gasoline, in different percentage by volume varying between 0% (E0) and 30% (E30), ethanol was blended, for evaluating cold start and idling emissions. The pollutants measured were HC, CO, CO2. The test results indicated that, the HC and CO emissions at cold start and idling reduced considerably compared to base gasoline as ethanol was blended with gasoline. Among the blends E5, E10, E15, E20, E25 and E30 which were tested, the E15 ethanol-gasoline blend showed the maximum reduction in CO and HC emissions at cold start and idling conditions.