Reducing environmental pollution by optimizing oxidative fuel and gasoline mixtures in modern heat engines

Considering the plummeting of conventional fuels and escalating environmental hazards in the intricate realm of internal combustion engines, there has been a pressing need to revolutionize our approach to energy. The embrace of alcohol as a viable alternative not only presents a compelling avenue for renewable fuel sources but also grasps the significant potential to lessen the environmental impact associated with traditional internal combustion engines. This study encompasses the utilization of unleaded gasoline and n-pentanol blends in a Spark Ignition (SI) engine for the manifestation of the above-mentioned approach. The utilization of n-pentanol resulted in an upsurge of 11 % in BTE and a 7 % reduction in BSFC. A significant reduction of 17.3 % in HC emissions, along with an increase of 11.5 % in CO₂ and 8.8 % in NO_x emissions, has been observed. However, at higher concentrations of n-pentanol, the effectiveness of the improvements started diminishing. RSM-based optimization has been performed for the sole purpose of determining the optimal ranges for the input as well as the targeted response variables. The optimal values for engine speed and n-pentanol fuel concentration are derived to be 3044 rpm and 10.027 SCFH, respectively, whereas the optimum values are 5.433 Nm, 1.769 kW, 18.830 %, 0.435 kg/kWh, 9.014 %, 146.063 ppm, and 936.154 ppm for torque, BP, BTE, BSFC, CO₂, HC, and NOx, respectively. This study tackles the gap in research regarding the optimization of engine conditions for n-pentanol-gasoline blends in SI engines, with a particular focus on n-pentanol as a renewable fuel. By employing response surface methodology (RSM), it seeks to enhance understanding and improve the utilization of these blends under optimal conditions. The attainment of sustainable development goals was also considered as one of the major objectives of this entire study, and thus SDG 13 (Climate Action) has been aimed at during this research of renewable alternative fuels.