INVESTIGATIONS ON REDUCTION OF EMISSIONS IN SPARK IGNITION ENGINE

In the scenario of abnormal increase of fuel prices in national and international market and increase of pollutants with fossil fuels, the search for alternative fuels has become important. Alcohols are good substitutes of gasoline, as they have high octane number and also they are renewable in nature. Investigations were carried out on a variable compression ratio spark ignition engine fitted with catalytic converter run with the gasohol (blend of 80% gasoline and 20% ethanol by volume) for reducing carbon monoxide (CO) and un-burnt hydro carbon emissions in the exhaust employing manganese ore as catalyst. The influence of parameters of void ratio, weight of the catalyst, speed and load on reduction of pollutants were determined. A microprocessor based analyzer is used for measurement of CO/UBHC emissions in the exhaust of the engine. The speed and the load were observed to have strong influence on reduction of CO/UBHC in the exhaust. Air injection aided further reduction of CO and UBHC emissions. Gasohol decreased CO emissions considerably when compared to neat gasoline operation.