A

Paper on

By,
Garud Prashant K.(B.E.Mech)
Gursal Ranjeet G. (B.E.Mech)
Email:

redcar2004@indiatimes.com

S.R.E.S. College of Engineering Kpargaon

Post: Shingnapur Tal.: Kpargaon
Dist. Ahmednagar 423 603

ABSTRACTS:
In this seminar we have discussed about the alternative fuel
(ethanol) from rural area.
1. Day by day demand of fuel is increasing tremendously and sources of fuel
are reducing, especially petroleum fuels.
2. Petroleum fuels are non renewable and the rate of increase of demand of
fuel is very high than rate of supply of fuel.
3. Also petroleum products make the major problem of environmental
pollution. So there is need of an alternative fuel.
4. India is country of rural area and many kind of fuel like Bio gas, ethanol,
methanol, natural gas (CNG), etc. can be produced in rural areas which
serve as good alternative fuel.
5. Ethanol is one of the more economical and efficient fuels. With the use
of ethanol fuel we get benefit in following manner.

Increase thermal and overall efficiency if engine.

Less pollution.

Cheaper fuel.

Ethanol is farm product and hence easily available.

Ethanol is renewable source of fuel and hence no chance of

energy crises.

6. This seminar has three parts:

A. In first part ethanol fuel and its history is dealt in detail, including its
manufacturing, availability, costing, advantages, etc.
B. Second stage is of engine modification for adapting to use
ethanol.
C. In last stage case study is also given which is being used in US.
* This is very important aspect in reducing import of fuel (petrol).

1.1 1. INTRODUCTION:
India is country of villages. Indian economy is mainly based on
agricultural products and their related services. All of us are aware that in future the
world will suffer from the shortage of conventional fuel like coal, petroleum and its
products. Over the last five years the world used 27 billion barrels of oil each year, while
annual discoveries amounted only 3 billion barrels. Following chart shows the oil
discovered worldwide every five years.

Figure 1
Trend in volume of oil discovered worldwide as per international
energy agencys assessment
In India, we can get alternative fuel like ethanol, biogas, C.N.G.,
methanol, etc. from rural area. In this seminar, we have only discus about the ethanol as
alternative fuel because ethanol solve all above problems.
Recently, on 15th April 2001, Govt. of India has made the beginning with
the pilot project at Miraj (Maharashtra) to examine the feasibility of blending ethanol
in petrol. Other two plants have also been commissioned at Manmad in Maharashtar
and Bareilly in U.P. as soon as the results of pilot projects are available; Govt. plans to
extend the program of 5 % ethanol mix of petrol to the entire country. This timely action
of Govt. of India has given a new hope that India too can gradually implement alcohol
fuel technology for automobiles first as a blend in petrol and subsequently as a sole fuel
for petrol vehicles.

2. ETHANOL: THE FUEL OF FUTURE

In 1925, Henry Ford in an interview with the New York Times called ethyl
alcohol ethanol the fuel of the future. Ford said, The fuel of future is going to come
from apples, weeds, sawdust- almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable
matter that can be fermented. Ford was on solid ground. When he began making ModelTs-in 1908, he made sure they could be adjusted to run on pure alcohol.

Fig. no.2
Henry Ford designed his earliest
production vehicle to run on ethanol.
Another burst of interest came in the 1920s when auto manufacturers
needed an octane booster for new high compression engines. General motors Charles
Kettering and Thomas Midgely seriously considered ethanol. But Midgely soon invented
high-octane leaded gasoline, and the GM pioneers reversed themselves, with disastrous
effects for generation of lead-poisoned, brain-damaged children.
The oil crisis of the early 1970s gave ethanol fuel a new lease of life. It set
off ethanols third wave and built the modern industry we know today. The road has had
some bumps, through, including hostility from major oil and auto companies for the first
10 years, and the 1980s collapse of oil prices that drove around half of ethanol producers
in U.S. out of business. In the 1990s ethanol makers regained ground after 1990 Clean
Air Act Amendments in U.S. enforcing ethanol as a prime fuel oxygenate. After a
series of such close calls, the industry has needed survived to the first decade of the 21st
century. Now, driven by environmental concerns and technological improvements, it
stands poised to fulfill its promise. For ethanol, the future is now.

3. ETHANOL PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES:

A.

Ethanol as transport fuel : Used in existing gasoline engine as 10% - 85% ethanol blend.
Country experiences: USA, Brazil, Canada, and Sweeden.
USA: Benefited from improved rural economy, reduction in air pollution, and
lower oil dependence.
Brazil: Benefited from in-country potential, reduction in air pollution and lower
oil dependence.

B.

Prospects of using ethanol in India: Energy security, trade balance and risk reduction.
Environmental benefits (reducing CO, HC & VOCs)
Economic benefits (in-country capacity utilization, scope for industry
expansion, additional market outlet)
Boosting the agriculture sector

C.

Ethanol status in India: Installed capacity > 3,000 million liter per annum but producing <50% of
installed capacity.
Currently meeting the demand of the chemical industries.
No present utilization in the transport sector.
Trial under Govt. sponsored projects.

D.

Benefits of using ethanol:I.

Immediate Benefits: Utilize industrial installed capacity improving the economy of the industry.
Reduce use of gasoline.
Reduce local pollution (e.g. in urban cities)
Provide business opportunities.
Help building base for larger program.

Table 1. Gasoline substitution potential

Cities

Estimated
consumption 200001 (in million liters)

Gasoline

Ethanol

(in million liters)

15%

(in million liters)

85%

Delhi

750

37.5

637.5

Calcutta

200

10

170

Mumbai

180

153

Bangalore

220

11.0

187

TOTAL

1350

67.5

1147.5

II. Long term benefits:

Expand ethanol market

Increase production capacities (e.g., from sugarcane juice, sweet

sorghum, biomass, etc.)

Provide business opportunities for auto manufactures, parts

suppliers, vehicle conversion companies and fuel suppliers.

Helping emerge a new market.

E. Challenges: who needs to take action

A Govt. policy with implementation plan and incentives needed.

Oil industries accepting bio-ethanol, auto industries- marketing

FFVs

Implementing certification and regulatory procedure.

Creating public awareness.

4. FUEL GRADE ETHANOL: PRODUCTION, SPECIFICATIONS

AND ECONOMICS PERSPECTIVES:
1. Ethanol is produce by two routes:a.

Synthetic route :By chemical reactions of petroleum substance. Ethanol produced by this route
contains a lot of propanol.
b.

Fermentation route:Fermentation of sugar bearing or starchy substrates using yeast. The

resultant fermented wash contains ethanol with other impurities.
Rectified spirit is produced by distillation of fermented wash containing
ethanol. Rectified spirit has usually about 95% by volume ethanol, balance being water,
and some trace impurities. This is because ethanol forms zoetrope with water at around
95% v/v concentration and hence it cannot be separated from water above that point by
simple distillation.
Fuel grade ethanol or absolute alcohol is produced by dehydration of
rectified spirit or industrial alcohol.
Commercially available technologies for dehydration of rectified spirit are:
1.
Molecular sieve technology
2.
Evaporation (Membrane tech.)
3.
A zoetropic distillation

PROOF AND PERCENT:The proof measure is double the percentage volume of pure alcohol.
Thus 190-proof ethanol contains 95% alcohol by volume, balance being water and some
trace impurities.
As per I.S. std. absolute alcohol should be 199 proof i.e. its ethanol
content must be 99.5% by volume.
Table 2. Specifications of fuel-grade ethanol as per ASTM D 4806
Component
Water content, max.
Non volatile matter, max.
Chloride iron content (max.)
Copper content, max.
Acidity (as acetic acid,
CH3COOH), max.
Appearance

Unit
Mass %
mg/100ml
PPM
PPM

Mass basis
1.25% w/w
5
40
0.1
0.007% w/w

Content
Volume basis
1.0% v/v
5
32
0.08
56 PPM by volume.

Visibly free of suspended or precipitated

contaminant(clear & bright)

Table 3. Specification of absolute alcohol as IS: 321-1964

Component
Sp. Gravity at 15.6 0C, max.
Ethanol content at 15.6 0C,
min.
Miscibility with water
Alkalinity
Acidity
Residue on evaporation,
max.
Aldehyde content, max
Copper (as Cu), max.
Lead (max)
Methyl alcohol content

Unit

Fuel oil

ppm

Ketones, isopropyl, tertiary

butyl

ppm

% volume

Content
0.796
99.5

% w/w
% w/w

Miscible
Nil
0.006
0.005

G/100 ml.
G/100 ml.
G/100 ml.

0.1
To satisfy the requirements
of test
To satisfy the requirements
of test
To satisfy the requirements
of test

COST OF PRODUCTION
Table 4.
The variable cost of production of absolute alcohol
Manufactured from rectified spirit or industrial alcohol

Utility

Consumption per
1000 liters of AA

Unit rate (Rs.)

Amount (Rs.)

Rectified spirit
Steam
Power
Cyclohexane
Cooling water
Miscellaneous
TOTAL

1067 liters
1.8 MT
60 kWh
1.80 kg
4.0 Cu. M

10.00
600.00
4.00
85.00
4.00

10670.00
1080.00
240.00
153.00
16.00
100.00
12259.00

i.e.: Approx. Rs. 12.26 liters of absolute alcohol.

5. COMPARISON OF PROPERTIES OF ETHANOL AND

GASOLINE AS ENGINE FUEL:

There are two primary ways that can be used as a transportation fuel:
1. Blend of up to 10% ethanol with gasoline as a fuel extender without
requiring any modification to the vehicle.
2. Used directly as a fuel with 15% gasoline known as Ethanol-85
industry FFV or modified vehicle.

Reason for adding 15% gasoline in ethanol:-

Straight ethanol is not normally used in automobile engine expect in

Racing Cars. Its lower calorific value, higher viscosity and surface tension, greater
solvent power, etc. restrict its use as a complete motor vehicle fuel. Moreover the nearly
invisible flame of pure ethanol may be a source of danger for extinguishing fire in case of
inadvertent accident. Hence it is customary to add about 15% of petrol to make the flame
luminous for easy visibility. These small percentages of gasoline added in ethanol inhance
starting in cold weather and also act as denaturant. In order to make fuel- ethanol
unsuitable to drink; it should be denatured by adding another substance. For fuel
ethanol, unleaded petrol is an approved denaturant.

Air fuel ratio:GASOLINE :C8H17 + 12.25 O2 + 3.76N2)

A/F

8CO2 + 8.5H2O + 46.06N2

(12.25*4.76) mol air X

29 kg air/mol =
Mol fuel
113 kg fuel/mole

14.96 kg air
kg fuel

ETHANOL (200 proof):

C2H5OH + 3(O2 + 3.76N2)
A/F =

(3 X 4.76) mol air X

Mol fuel

2CO2 + 2H2O + 11.28N2

29 kg air/mol =
46 kg fuel/mol

9.01 kg air
kg fuel

Because of the presence of oxygen the quantity of air required for

combustion of ethanol is considerably lower than that required for petrol.
For Ethanol-85 fuel, stochiometric A/F is taken as 10:1.

6. IMPORTANT PROPERTIES OF ETHANOL AND GASOLINE:

Table no. 5
PROPERTY
Chem ical form ula
Molecular w t.
Carbon
Hydrogen
Oxygen
Stoichiometric A/F (by w t.)

ETHANOL
C 2 H 5 OH
46.07
52.2
13.1
34.7

GASOLINE
C 4 -C 1 2
113
85-88
12-15
nil

9.01:1

14.96 : 1

3.57 to 18

6 29

4.3
19

1.4
7.6

Octane no.
Research
Motor
(R + M)/2
Self ignition temp. ( 0 C)

108
92
100
420

91
82
87
300 450

Low er calorific value (Kcal/kg)

6400

10500

Latent heat of vaporization

(Kcal/kg)

204.0

70 100

Sp. Heat of liquid (Btu/lb. 0 F)

0.57

0.48

Boiling pt. or range ( 0 C)

Raid vapor pressure at 38 0 C
(Bar)

78
0.17

30 240
0.88

100
100

Negligible
Negligible

-114
12.8
0.796
1.19

-40
-42.8
0.72 0.78
0.37 0.44

Ignition lim its A/F (by w t.)

Flamm ability lim it, (volume %
Low er
Higher

Water solubility @ 70 0 F
Fuel in water, volume%
Water in fuel , volume%
Freezing pt., ( 0 C)
Flash pt., ( 0 C)
Sp. Gravity at 15 0 C
Vis cosity at 15 0 C (centi-poise )

7. USE OF ETHANOL IN AUTOMOBILES

Table no. 6. Modification required in engine to use ethanol instead of gasoline.
Problems

Part

Modification

Ethanol has high viscosity

also required low A/F ratio

Carburetor

Increase the sizes of fuel jet

Cold starting
Below 780 C, ethanol
will not vaporize
sufficiently to form a
combustible mixture.

1 Carburetor

1. made arrangement to
supply gasoline for few
second in cold starting.

2 Carburetor intake
manifold

2. provide plug heater to

heat intake air.

Ignition timing
Since alcohol has high
octane rating, the proper
time for the ethanol engine
is to be advanced from
optimum gasoline setting.

Distributor housing

By turning Distributor
housing ignition timing
should be advanced

Compression ratio
Ethanol has high octane
rating so compression ratio
should be high.

Engine

Increase the compression

ratio

Fuel vaporization and

engine warm-up.
Ethanol requires about five
times as much heat to
vaporize the proper fuel
air mixture as gasoline.

Intake and exhaust

manifold

Both manifold should be on

the same side of cylinder to
allow heat flow from
exhaust to intake manifold

8. CASE STUDY: FORD TAURUS:

Performance of FFV:

In 1996, the Govt. of state of Ohio, USA established a project to

demonstrate the effectiveness of ethanol as an alternative to gasoline in fleet operations.
The state incorporated a no of flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) into its fleet. All vehicles in
the study were 1996 model year Ford Taurus. Results from this project are described
bellow:

Acceleration:-

Three tests performed (1) elapsed time from a standstill to 60 mph at wide
open throttle, loaded and unloaded; (2) elapsed time from 40 to 60 mph wide open
throttle (passing simulation); (3) elapsed time and max. speed at a quarter mile. Values
are the average of six measurements.
Table no. 7

Acceleration performance of
FFV and gasoline Model of FORD Taurus

Acceleration

FFV Ethanol-85

Gasoline model

0-60 mph loaded (sec.)

0-60 mph unloaded (sec.)

12.7
9.9

13.7
10.5

40-60 mph (sec.)

5.2

5.6

mile time (sec)

mile speed (mph)

17.6
80.1

17.9
78.4

Acceleration test revealed an average of 6% improvement for the FFV

tested on Ethanol-85 compared to the test on gasoline.

Fuel economy and vehicle range:

The average fuel economy for the FFVs was just over 23 miles per gallon
(mpg), which is lower than the average of 24.6 mpg for gasoline vehicles. We expect this
result because the energy constant of Ethanol-85 is lower than that of gasoline.
Ford opted to ensure that its FFVs and gasoline Tauruses had a similar
range by installing a slightly large fuel tank in FFVs.

Operating cost:

The operating cost considered in this study incuded the fuel used and
maintenance costs.

In evaluating the fuel use cost for the FFVs, gasoline and Ethanol-85 cost
had to be taken in to account, because the vehicles used both fuel. On the cent per mile
basis, fuel cost for the FFVs was about 15% higher than for gasoline, at 6.55 cent per
mile compare to 5.01 cent per mile for the gasoline vehicles.
Maintenance cost included parts, labor, and other (recycling, parts
disposal, engine oil, and so forth). The only major difference in service between the FFVs
and gasoline vehicle is that, FFVs required special low-ash engine oil. Overall,
maintenance cost for this fleet of study vehicles were low.
However, for the FFVs they were nearly 13% higher than for the gasoline
vehicles. This was due almost entirely to the cost of the special oil used in FFVs

Chart no. 2 Operating cost of FFV (case study: Ford Taurus)

Table no. 8 Operating cost of FFV and gasoline model of FORD

TAURUS
OPERATING COST

TOTAL ($ PER 1000 miles)

Gasoline

FFV

Fuel usage

50.09

65.54

Maintenance

7.69

8.81

Total

57.78

74.35

CONCLUSION:
From this seminar, we conclude that ethanol is the best preferred
alternative for gasoline in every aspect. By using ethanol we can develop economical
and efficient vehicle and industrial plants.
One of the greatest advantages of alternative fuel from rural area is that
they are renewable and environmental friendly.