Experimental study the effects of acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE), spark timing and lambda on the performance and emissions characteristics of a high-speed SI engine

In this study, the ABE was firstly mixed with the pure gasoline, and stored in different containers to make the different sample fuels (referred as ABE10, ABE20, and ABE30). Then, the effects of the ABE ratio, spark timing and lambda were comprehensively investigated on the performance and emissions characteristics of the high-speed SI engine. The results indicated that the high-speed SI engine fuelled with ABE30 boasted the largest power, and followed by ABE20 and ABE10, while the pure gasoline generated the lowest output power. The lean burn limitation of the high-speed SI engine was greatly extended with increased the ABE ratio in the gasoline. Specifically, an extra 11.7% output power was obtained when the high-speed SI engine fuelled with ABE30 compared the pure gasoline. In addition, the higher ABE ratio in the ABE/gasoline blends yielded higher laminar flame speed of the ABE/gasoline, which increased the combustion rate and reduced the flame quenching distance near the cold wall, and thereby extending the lean-burn limitation. Apart from that, the NO emission formation was sensitive to the spark timing, and reached a peak value at the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio. The formation of CO and HC emissions did not show a strong relationship with the spark timing, and achieved a minimum value at the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio. Last, the NO emission formation dramatically decreased with increasing the ABE ratio in the ABE/gasoline blends, since the charge cooling effect reduced the in-cylinder peak combustion temperature.