Fuel consumption and emissions analysis of a light vehicle fuelled with two ethanol–gasoline blends in urban driving conditions of lima metropolitana

Abstract

We present a comparative study of fuel consumption, emissions factors, and vehicle-specific power of a light vehicle operating with two gasoline–ethanol blends as fuel: commercial gasohol (E7.8) and an alternative mix with 10% v/v of ethanol (E10). For this purpose, a vehicle in the city’s fleet was equipped with a central system of data acquisition, whose main function was to capture second-by-second data of the air intake of the engine, the emissions concentration levels in the exhaust, the distance traveled, vehicle speed, and environmental conditions during testing. The measuring campaign was carried out in the city of Lima Metropolitana. Fuel consumption was calculated indirectly, using air intake measurements. The vehicle’s engine emissions were analysed using the mass flow rates of CO2, CO, HC, and NOx, as well as the vehicle-specific power. The results show that, in traffic conditions, the change in fuels does not affect the consumption. On the other hand, a correlation was found between the vehicle-specific power and the emissions mass flow. During the comparison between fuels, the results showed an increase in the mass flow standard deviation when using E10.