Cost effective production of Ethanol from coal/biomass

All kinds of vehicle engines work with fuels produced from petrol. However, petrol reserves in the world
are limited and expected to be exhausted in about 41 years. Limited energy sources warn of a potential
lack of energy in the future. Depletion of fossil fuels and environmental considerations have led engineers
and scientists to anticipate the need to develop a clean, renewable and sustainable energy system. The
energy crisis created an incentive to study and evaluate alcohols as an alternative fuel in the spark-ignition
engines. Since ethanol can be fer- Corresponding author. Fax: +90-442-236-09-57. E-mail address:
fikretyuksel@yahoo.com (F. Yu¨ksel). 0960-1481/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2003.11.012 mented and distilled from biomasses, it can be considered
as a renewable energy [1]. As a fuel for spark-ignition engines, alcohol has some advantages over gasoline,
such as better anti-knock characteristics and reduction of CO and UHC emissions. Although alcohol has
these advantages, due to limitations in the technology, and economic and regional considerations, still it
cannot be used extensively. Alcohol is completely miscible with water in all proportions, while gasoline
and water are immiscible [2]. This may cause the blended fuel to contain water, and further result in
corrosion problems on the mechanical components, especially on the components made of copper, brass
or aluminum. To minimize this problem on fuel delivery system, such materials mentioned above must be
avoided [3]. Alcohol can react with most rubber and cause a jam in the fuel pipe. Therefore, it is advised
to use fluorocarbon rubber as a replacement for rubber [4]. On the combustion characteristics, the auto-
ignition temperature and flash point of alcohol are higher than those of gasoline, which make it safer for
transportation and storage. The latent heat of evaporation of alcohol is 3–5 times higher than that of
gasoline, which makes the temperature of the intake manifold lower, and increases the volumetric
efficiency. The heating value of alcohol is also lower than that of gasoline. Therefore, we need 1.5–1.8
times more alcohol fuel to achieve the same energy output. Moreover, the stochiometric air–fuel ratio
(AFR) of alcohol is about 2/3–1/2 that of gasoline, hence the required amount of air for complete
combustion is lesser for alcohol. Sustaining a clean environment is an important issue in an industrialized
society. The air pollution caused by automobiles and motorcycles is one of the most important
environmental problems to be tackled. Since using ethanol–gasoline blended fuels can ease off the air
pollution and the depletion of the petroleum fuels simultaneously, much research has been devoted to
study the effect of these alternative fuels on the performance and pollutant emission of an engine.
Palmer, [5] for instance, used various blend rates of ethanol–gasoline fuels in engine tests. The results
indicated that 10% ethanol addition increases the engine power by 5% and the octane number can be
increased by 5% for each 10% ethanol added. Abdel et al. [6] tested 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% ethanol of
blended fuels in a variable-compression-ratio engine. They found that the increase of ethanol content
increases the octane number, but decreases the heating value. The 10% addition of ethanol had the most
obvious effect on increasing the octane number. Under various compression ratios of the engine, the
optimum blend rate was found to be 10% ethanol with 90% gasoline. Bata et al. [7] studied different blend
rates of ethanol–gasoline fuels in engines, and found that the ethanol could reduce the CO and UHC
emissions to some degree. The reduction of CO emission is apparently caused by the wide flammability
and oxygenated characteristic of ethanol. In the study by Palmer, he indicated that 10% of ethanol
addition to gasoline could reduce the concentration of CO emission up to 30% [5]. Alexandrian et al. [8]
showed that the AFR has great influence on the CO emission. Using ethanol–gasoline blended fuel instead
of gasoline alone, especially under fuel-rich conditions, can lower CO and NOx emissions. However,
studies of Chao et al. and Rideout et al. [9,10] pointed out 1182 F. Yu¨ksel, B. Yu¨ksel / Renewable Energy
29 (2004) 1181–1191 that using ethanol–gasoline blended fuels increases the emission of formaldehyde,
acetaldehyde and acetone 5.12–13.8 times than those from gasoline. Although the emission of aldehyde
will increase when we use ethanol as a fuel, the damage to the environment by the emitted aldehyde is
far less than that by the poly-nuclear aromatics emitted from burning gasoline. Therefore, higher
percentage of alcohol in blended fuel can make the air quality better in comparison to gasoline [11]. From
the literature review, it is understood that alcohol–gasoline blended fuels can effectively lower the
pollutant emission without major modifications to engine design [12,13]. Moreover, ethanol can be made
from biomass. Ethanol (C2H5OH) is a pure substance. It contains an oxygen atom, which can be viewed as
partially oxidized hydrocarbon. Gasoline–alcohol mixtures may be prepared by addition of certain amount
of ethanol to the gasoline. Gasoline–ethanol mixtures, which contain up to 20% ethanol by volume, can
be safely used without causing any damage to the construction of the motor. In this system, depending
on the ratio of ethanol, gasoline and water components, it is possible to distinguish the limits of a
homogeneous and stable phase. A phase separation is observed in gasoline–ethanol mixtures when the
amount of water present in the mixture is over a certain limit. At the phase separation, gasoline, which
contains less than 20% ethanol by volume and is also aromatic in character, is said to be more stable. As
pointed out, to be able to use gasoline–ethanol mixtures as a motor fuel, the mixture must be stable and
a separation of phases should not occur. In gasoline–ethanol–water systems, the phase separation
depends on the methanol and water content of the blend, the environmental temperature, and the
composition of gasoline. In order to reduce the phase separation temperature, higher aliphatic alcohols
such as tertiary butyl alcohol, benzyl alcohol, cyclohexanol or toluene are usually added to the gasoline–
alcohol blends [14,15]. In this study, the carburetor was redesigned to solve the aforementioned problems
and be able to use a 60% alcohol–gasoline blend by volume.