The effect of acetone-butanol-ethanol and gasoline blends on the knocking performance of spark-ignition engine

In this study, the effect of acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) and gasoline blends on knocking performance was investigated experimentally in a four-stroke, high-speed spark-ignition engine. Four types of fuels were used in this study: pure gasoline, gasoline mixed with 10%, 20% and 30% ABE. The knocking factor is introduced to evaluate the knocking tendency of the experiential fuels. The results show that the threshold for knock identification is 1.100 when the width of the reference window and the knock window are set to the same length. The more ABE that is added to gasoline, the weaker the tendency of the engine to knock. The high latent heat of vaporization of ABE helps reduce the temperature of the combustion start point, thereby suppressing knocking. The spark timing of the engine can be advanced when the gasoline is blended with ABE. The spark timing can be advanced 5.34 degrees crank angle at 3000 r/min, 30% throttle position when the engine is fuelled by gasoline blended with 30% ABE compared to the pure gasoline engine. This paper has shown that ABE can be used as a blended fuel to suppress the knocking tendency in spark-ignition engine.