Experimental Study on Electrical Power Generation from 1 kW Engine Using Simulated Biogas Fuel

This research paper presented a biogas as a fuel for small 1 kW power engine. The simulated biogas fuel was tested on type of spark ignition engine of generator and it examined the engine performance at the constant engine speed under load transients. The generator was connected to load bank and it was functioned to generate a comparable result from the laboratory experiments by using gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas as fuel in the engine to be evaluated with simulated biogas. Based on study conducted, on more general proportion, 60% of methane (CH4) and 40% of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the simulated biogas was used. The results obtained from testing the engine have been found to be satisfactory. As the calculations on electric power generation, fuel flow rate, specific fuel consumption, (sfc) and engine efficiency have been made, the results showed that the performance of engine and exhaust emissions fuelled with gasoline would be a baseline for this project. It also showed that maximum specific fuel consumption for LPG and natural gas was decreased by 10% and 23.4% respectively when compared to gasoline and it is proven that the simulated biogas has consumed more fuel (1254.83 kg/kWh) with only reach up to 780 W. The power reduction of engine using simulated biogas was about 22% as compared to gasoline. In term of engine efficiency, gasoline, LPG, natural gas have generated 21%, 20.7%, 20.4% respectively while simulated biogas generated only 0.16% of engine efficiency

Biogas appliances in Sub-Sahara Africa

Acknowledgement The authors are grateful to DFID for the financial support granted through The New and Emerging Technologies Research Competition (NET-RC). We also want to thank numerous authors, staff at CREEC and Uganda Domestic program who work tirelessly to provide the know-how, books, articles on biogas technology whose works were made reference to.Peer reviewedPostprin

Effect of Performance and Exhaust Emission using Liquid Phase LPG Sequential Injection as an Alternative Fuel in Spark Ignition Engine

LPG has a higher research octane number (RON) and low carbon to hydrogen ratio contains. Thus LPG has prospects to gain more performance and reducing the exhaust emission in spark ignition (SI) engine. The objectives of this study are to identify the influence liquid phase LPG system tested on SI engine and investigate the performance and exhaust emission of LPG and gasoline. The contain LPG has 60% butane and 40% propane, according to Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). The experiment was operating on a 1.6 Liter, 4 inline cylinders from a Proton Gen 2 (S4PH). The engine fuel delivery was equipped with Multiport Injection (MPI) system. Injectors LPG Liquid Sequential Injection (LSI) was mounted at close intake valve without disturbing gasoline injectors. To control the LPG injector system, the piggy-back system was installed as to emulate the stock Electronic Control Unit (ECU). The engine was tested via chassis dynamometer at steady state conditions to analyze the Brake Power (BP) and Brake Torque (BT) at a desired engine speed from 1500rpm to 4000rpm with increments of 500rpm. Meanwhile, the Throttle Position (TP) was varied at four conditions that were 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% for every single engine speed. The result of the performance showed liquid phase LPG increased BT and BP in the range of 3% to 7%, BSFC was reduced in the range 21% to 52%. The exhaust emission from carbon monoxide (CO) was decreased in the range of 2% to 19%, exhaust emission from a hydrocarbon (HC) was emitted increment in the range of 40% to70% and nitrogen oxide (NOX) exhaust emission was elevated in an average of 60% in comparison with gasoline. The LPG LSI system is more effective than gasoline in Spark Ignition (SI) engine at lower engine speed (1500rpm to 2500rpm) due to low Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) and exhaust emission

Distributed generation: prospects for fuel cells based micro-cogeneration systems

Distributed generation can be an option to reduce energy consumption and facilitate the introduction of bigger amount of electricity produced with renewable energy sources. In the first part of the thesis an overview on fossil fuels power plants and primary movers for distributed micro-cogeneration systems is given. Then, the effect of renewable energy sources on the operation of the European power plants and grid is discussed. In the second part of the thesis generators based on PEM fuel cells are considered and analyzed from a theoretical and experimental point of view to what concerns performance and life span. Experimental data on a micro generator are presented. Control complexity and performance degradation over time are, in particular, studied. Degradation is also studied considering the effect of load cycles profile over performance. The research is completed with the analysis of the energy saving achievable by fuel cell micro-cogeneration systemsLa generazione distribuita di energia \ue8 da molti considerata una delle soluzioni per ridurre i consumi energetici e per agevolare l\u2019introduzione di quote sempre pi\uf9 importanti di elettricit\ue0 provenienti da fonti rinnovabili di energia. Nella prima parte della tesi viene fatta una panoramica sulle tecnologie oggi pi\uf9 adatte alla generazione distribuita e viene fatta un\u2019analisi su alcune delle problematiche che la massiccia introduzione di elettricit\ue0 da fonti rinnovabili sta comportando nella gestione della rete di distribuzione e delle centrali di produzione, a livello europeo. Nella seconda parte delle tesi, si va ad analizzare un particolare tipo di impianto per la micro-cogenerazione distribuita: i generatori elettrici basati su celle a combustibile ad elettrolita polimerico. Si vanno ad analizzare, sia dal punto di vista teorico che sperimentale, le prestazioni, la vita utile ed alcune delle problematiche relative al degrado funzionale nel tempo. Si presentano dei dati sperimentali su un micro-cogeneratore di piccola taglia e se ne evidenziano le problematiche di controllo e di degrado delle prestazioni nel tempo. In particolare, a questo riguardo, vengono riportati alcuni dati sperimentali atti a valutare l\u2019effetto dei cicli di carico sul degrado delle prestazioni delle celle. La ricerca si completa con la presentazione di una metodologia per il calcolo del risparmio energetico in funzione delle caratteristiche del generatore e delle scelte di gestione dello stess

Fuel as secondary refrigerant on LPG fuelled vehicle: A thermodynamics analysis

In LPG-fueled vehicles, there is a potential cooling from LPG evaporation in the fuel line. Cooling power is obtained without reducing the caloric value of the fuel supplied to the engine. Thus, LPG functions like a refrigerant before it is burned in the combustion chamber. Consequently, there is a change in fuel efficiency. Therefore, this paper presents a new thermodynamic analysis on LPG-fueled vehicles by harvesting cooling power in the fuel line. The total fuel efficiency is calculated by summing the indicated thermal power added by cooling power to the fuel energy supplied. The results show that the A/C system from the fuel line can increase the total fuel efficiency of 3.16%