Charalampos Arapatsakos

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter http://dx. doi. org/10.5772/52772

1. Introduction

Today, humanity faces many environmental problems, one of which is atmospheric pollution that leads to greenhouse effect, ozone formation and to many health problems to human beings. Also, many countries around the world face the problem of energy shortage. At the same time we must not forget the need for clean air, clean fuel and biodegradable, renewable materials. Hazardous pollutants that lead to atmospheric pollution have many sources and automobile’s exhaust emission is one of these. Petroleum-based products that have been used as fuels produce dangerous gas emissions. In order to decrease environmental impacts, scientists and many governments turned their attention to renewable fuels as alternatives to conventional fossil fuels and as oxygenates [1]. The beginning of the 21st century finds humans more familiar with the concept of sustainable development. We must prevent the degradation of our environment focusing in more friendly technologies. This need lead scientists to the use of other energy sources that can be used with the same efficiency but won’t have damaging effect to the environment. The increased vehicle number that usually uses petroleum-based fuels results to dangerous emissions production such as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and others. These emissions besides the fact that lead to environmental degradation they also constitute a threat for human health. People’s concern about the risks associated with hazardous pollutants results to an increased demand for renewable fuels as alternatives to fossil fuels [1,2]. Ethanol and methanol are alcohols that can be used as fuels instead of gasoline in automobile engines. For better understanding of the use of these two alcohols we must examine them separately. Fuel ethanol is an alternative fuel that is produced from biologically renewable resources that it can also be used as an octane enhancer and as oxygenate. Ethanol (ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, ETOH) is a clear, colorless liquid alcohol with characteristic odor and as alcohol is a group of chemical compounds whose molecules contain a hydroxyl group, — OH, bonded to a carbon atom. Is produced with the process of fermentation of grains such as wheat, barley, corn, wood, or

sugar cane. In the United States ethanol is made by the fermentation of corn [1—3]. By the reaction of fermentation simple sugars change into ethanol and carbon dioxide with the presence of zymase, an enzyme from yeast. Ethanol can also be made from cellulose that is obtained from agricultural residue and waste paper [1]. It is a high-octane fuel with high oxygen content (35% oxygen by weight) and when blended properly in gasoline produces a cleaner and more complete combustion. Ethanol is used as an automotive fuel either by itself or in blends with gasoline, such as mixtures of 10% ethanol and 90%gasoline, or 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline [3—6]. Many countries around the world use ethanol as fuel. For example, in Brazil ethanol is produced using as raw material sugarcane and many vehicles use ethanol as fuel. Also in Canada and in Sweden ethanol is highly promoted as fuel because of the many environmental benefits that ethanol has. When gasoline is used as fuel hydrocarbons (HC) escape to the atmosphere. Many hydrocarbons are toxic and some, such as benzene, cane cause cancer to humans. If ethanol is used as fuel hydrocarbons are not being produced because ethanol is an alcohol that does not produce HC when is burned. The reaction of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides that are produced from the gasoline burning, in the presence of sunlight leads to the formation of photochemical smog. The use of ethanol as fuel can contribute to the decrease of photochemical smog since it does not produces hydrocarbons [5—8]. Vehicles that burn petroleum fuels produce carbon monoxide (CO) because these fuels do not contain oxygen in their molecular structure. Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas that is formed by incom­plete combustion. When ethanol, which contains oxygen, is mixed with gasoline the combus­tion of the engine is more complete and the result is CO reduction [9—11].

Using renewable fuels, such as ethanol, there is also a reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is non-toxic but contributes to the greenhouse effect. Because of the fact that plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, that balances the amount of CO2 that is formed during combustion absorbed by plants used to produce ethanol. That is why the use of ethanol will partially offset the greenhouse effect that is formed by carbon dioxide emissions of burning gasoline [11—13]. Ethanol, as an octane enhancer, can substitute benzene and other benzene-like compounds, which are powerful liver carcinogens, and reduce their emissions to the atmosphere. Besides the environmental benefits, production and use of ethanol, which is a renewable fuel, increases economic activity, creates job openings, stabilizes prices and can increase farm income. That is why ethanol as an automotive fuel has many advantages.

Methanol (CH3OH) is an alcohol that is produced from natural gas, biomass, coal and also municipal solid wastes and sewage. It is quite corrosive and poisonous and has lower volatility compared to gasoline, which means that is not instantly flammable. Usually methanol is used as a gasoline-blending compound, but it can be used directly as an automobile fuel with some modifications of the automobile engine.

Although there are many feedstocks that are being used for the production of methanol, natural gas is more economic. Methanol is produced from natural gas with a technology of steam reforming. By this method natural gas is transformed to a synthesis gas that is fed to a reactor vessel to produce methanol and water at the presence of a catalyst. The reac — tions(equation 1,2) that represent methanol production are the following [4]:

2CH4+ 3H2O ® CO + CO2+7H2 — Synthesis gas (1)

CO + CO2+ 7H2 ® 2CH3OH +2H2+ H2O (2)

The main advantage of methanol as fuel is that is being produced from resources that can be found globally, while a large percentage of petroleum is located in Middle East. Furthermore, the materials needed for methanol production such as natural gas or biomass are renewable. This means that methanol can also be cheaper and more economically attractive than gasoline. When fossil fuels are used in automobiles produce exhaust emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Methanol can give lower HC and CO emissions and besides that the vehicles that use methanol emit minimum particulate matter compared to gasoline, which usually has damaging effect to humans. In addition, methanol has high-octane content that promotes better the process of combustion. Another advantage of methanol is that if it does ignite can cause less severe fires to the vehicle because is less flammable than gasoline [4]. Some disadvantages that methanol has are the lower energy content compared to gasoline, the fact that is not volatile enough for easy cold starting and can damage plastic and rubber fuel system components. The vehicle that uses methanol for fuel must have a large storage tank because pure methanol burns faster than gasoline, and corrosion resistant, materials must be used for the storage equipment [14—16]. Renewable fuels such as ethanol and methanol will probably replace petroleum-based fuels in the near future because petroleum reserves are not sufficient enough to last many years. Also, the severe environ­mental problems around the world will eventually lead to the use of more environmentally friendly technologies. The question that is examined in this chapter is how the mixtures of gasoline-ethanol and gasoline-methanol behave in a four-stroke engine from the aspect of emissions and fuel consumption.