Investigation of Cu-ZSM5 catalyst for the Emission Reduction in ethanol-gasoline blends using iso-butanol as an additive in SI engine

Abstract

In this experimental work, the Gasoline engine was used to find out the effects of Cu-ZSM5 zeolite coated catalytic convertor on the emission characteristics of iso-butanol additive in ethanol-gasoline blends. The engine was tested under three speeds namely 2000rpm, 3000rpm, and 4000rpm. The volumetric proportion of the fuel samples taken for testing were gasoline (pure gasoline), E10 (90% gasoline, 10%ethanol), IB5 (95% E10, 5% Iso-butanol) and IB10 (90% E10, 10% Iso-butanol). The physiochemical properties of the fuels like heating value, kinematic viscosity, and density were analyzed for these samples as these values influence the emission formation characteristics. The heating value of the samples was decreased with the gasoline concentration in the fuel samples. E10, IB5, and IB10 produced the heating values of 2.34%, 3.13% and 5.05% respectively less than that of the gasoline. However the fuel properties like density, kinematic viscosity tens to increase with the alcohol concentration in the samples. From the performance results, the Brake specific fuel consumption decreased for E10, IB5 and IB10 of about 3.57%, 5.14%, and 7.13% respectively when compared to gasoline. Brake thermal efficiency of the fuel increased to a noticeable level with the addition of the alcohol in gasoline. Initially, the engine was tested by fitting the commercially purchased catalytic converter in the exhaust system and the emissions values were measured with the help of AVL 444 gas analyzer. Then the engine was fitted with the Cu-ZSM5 coated in-house fabricated catalytic convertor and the emission values were measured. At 3000rpm, it has been found that the zeolite coated catalytic convertor reduces HC, CO and NOX emissions by 33%, 9% and 8.3% more than that of the commercial catalytic convertor.