The effect of bio-based additives on engine performance and emissions of petrol and diesel engine

Abstract

Fuel additives are additives that are added to fuel in small quantities to give improvement in terms of engine performance and emissions. Aftermarket fuel additives can be divided into two, chemical-based and bio-based. In this project, the effect of bio-based fuel additives on engine performance and exhaust emissions of a petrol and diesel engine is studied. The blending ratio is developed based on the instruction given on the bottle of the additives. The ratio of the fuel additives used for Vivo Racing (VR) is between 0.21% and 0.25%, Vivo Flawless (VF) is between 0.10% and 0.14% and Diesel Energy is between 0.14% and 0.18%. Constant throttle test had been done on both petrol and diesel engine. The results show that the fuel additives reduce brake power and brake specific fuel consumption while increasing brake thermal efficiency and reducing exhaust emissions. For brake power, VR0.24 is the best. For brake specific fuel consumption, the best are VR0.23 and VF0.11 for petrol and diesel engine respectively. For brake thermal efficiency, the best are VR0.24 and DE0.17. For HC composition, the lowest are VR0.25 and DE0.17. For CO composition, VR0.22 and DE0.14 are the lowest. As for NOx, the lowest are VR0.25 and DE0.17.