LPG Fueled Engine Under Kuwait Summer Climate

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of using LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) fuel on the performance of spark ignition engine under summer climate. A Hydra single-cylinder, spark ignition, water cooled engine was tested under elevated inlet air temperature. The effect of preheating inlet air from 25 to 60 °C to simulate Kuwait summer climate was investigated. Engine performance and the level of CO and CO2 emissions were measured experimentally using a gaseous Hydra research engine. The engine was fueled with local, commercial LPG. Several parameters were varied during the experimental work: fuel/air equivalence ratio, engine load and engine speed. The goal of this research was to investigate and simulate the effect of elevated inlet air temperature on the performance of car engine during summer season in Kuwait. The local LPG fuel is composed of 25% propane, 23% Iso-butane and 52% n-butane. Results show that the engine performance curves (brake power, brake specific fuel consumption and mechanical efficiency) have lower performance effect when inlet air temperature preheated from 25 to 60 °C, where the engine brake power dropped by 8% at equivalence ratio of 0.8. Carbon monoxide emission increased as inlet air preheated except at fuel air equivalence ratio less than 0.78. The present research provides a quantitative comparison of engine performance and CO and CO2 emissions between engine running at ambient and elevated inlet air temperature. Although there is a slight drop in the engine performance with heated inlet air, there is good reduction in the level of CO2.