Análise energética e de emissões de um motor multicombustível

Abstract

Currently, all countries have created regulations for flue gases released into the environment. The growth in engine performance and efficiency has added value to comply with these ever more restrictive regulations. The reduction of harmful gases is correlated with sustainable economic development. Testing new fuels of liquid and gaseous origin provides us with the opportunity to continue our growth in balance with our environment. Biodiesel has more interesting environmental characteristics compared to mineral diesel, contributing to the adaptation to environmental standards. LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) has consolidated logistics in the Brazilian territory, facilitating access to this fuel. However, its use in engines remains restricted, but the research is valid for tests. However, no fuel will be commercially accepted if it does not have satisfactory performance. In this research, the maximum engine torque and power and the values of the exhaust gases (CO, CO2, and HC) were collected for each fuel to measure the torque and power values. The author created a low-cost dynamometer to impose loads on the engine. Thus, the research objective was to create an automated environment for the collection of the main information regarding the use of different fuels in a diesel engine, evaluating its energetic and environmental parameters. These factors can be measured by the power, torque, and exhaust gases data. Controller boards based on the Arduino IDE and sensors were used to create the test bench. The fuel data collection was performed on a Yanmar model TC14S engine. The engine received only external adaptations to use different fuels, liquid and gas. The liquid fuels used were Brazilian commercial diesel with 12% of biodiesel and residual-oil biodiesel percentage, and the gaseous fuel used was liquefied petroleum gas. Energy efficiency was measured using maximum torque and power data for each fuel, and the exhaust gases were measured using an Alfatest multiglass analyzer. According to the data collected, the bench was proposed to be statistically effective, showing that the maximum torque measured by the proposed dynamometer is consistent with the value presented by the engine manufacturer using commercial diesel. The fuel with the highest torque and power values was the B50 LPG, demonstrating that the substitution of diesel for LPG proved to be feasible from an energetic perspective. However, from an environmental perspective, the use of LPG concomitant with liquid fuels showed higher values of CO and HC but statistically equal values of CO2.