Evaluation of the effect of a new alternative fuel containing boron and hydrogen on gasoline engine performance and emission responses

Abstract

In this research, the impacts of the use of a new fuel additive called octamix, which is obtained by mixing trioctyl borate as a boron source, ammonia borane as a hydrogen enhancer and ethyl alcohol, on the performance and emission values in a gasoline engine have been investigated experimentally. The experiments were carried out using four different fuel mixtures obtained by mixing octamix with gasoline at 0.5%, 1%, 2% and 3% by volume and pure gasoline at different engine load values in a single cylinder spark ignition engine. While brake thermal efficiency and brake specific fuel consumption were evaluated as performance parameters, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide were taken into consideration as emission responses. Experimental results revealed that using octamix higher than 0.5% was not efficient in terms of performance and emission. With the use of a fuel blend containing 0.5% octamix, overall emission and performance values improved but deteriorated with other octamix-containing fuels. According to the results, it can be said that octamix fuel is more suitable for use as a fuel additive rather than as a stand-alone fuel for gasoline engines and the use of only 0.5% octamix-containing fuel mixture is efficient. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2021, Islamic Azad University (IAU).