The Effect of Fuel Additives on Spark Ignition, and Their Implications on Engine Performance: An Experimental Study

This paper is designed to present an experimental study being recently conducted for investigating the effect of some fuel additives on the performance of spark ignition within a benzene engine. Three types of additives were added separately (Gasoline Additive, Gasoline Booster, and Octane Booster) to pure gasoline with a volumetric ratio 1: 6, 1: 7, and 1: 8 respectively. Four separate laboratory experiments being conducted using an internal combustion engine at rotational speed ranges from 600 to 3000 rpm, where the three mixtures and the pure gasoline itself were used. The findings showed that there was a positive effect on the engine performance as the brake power increases by 8%, 13% and 23% at the use of Gasoline Additive, Gasoline Booster, and Octane Booster respectively as compared with using only the pure gasoline. The brake thermal efficiency (eta(th)) was also affected positively showing its maximum value of about 8% for Octane Booster, and with a minimum value for using Gasoline Additive at about 4.7%. In addition, this study showed that the value changes in the brake specific fuel consumption for Gasoline Additive, Gasoline Booster, and Octane Booster was at the levels of 1%, 2%, and 5% respectively compared with using only the pure gasoline. Furthermore, the results also showed that the use of Octane Booster gave the highest level of air fuel ratio.