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Ambient temperature conditions, engine design, fuel, lubricant and fuel injection strategies influence the cold start performance of gasoline engines. Despite the cold start period is only a very small portion in the legislative emission driving cycle, but it accounts for a major portion of the overall driving cycle emissions. The start ability tests were carried out in the weather controlled transient dynamometer - engine test cell at different ambient conditions for investigating the cold start behavior of a modern generation multi-point fuel injection system spark ignition engine. The combustion data were analyzed for the first 200 cycles and the engine performance and emissions were analyzed for 300 s from key-on. It is observed that cumulative fuel consumption of the engine during the first 60 s of engine cold starting at 10 °C was 60% higher than at 25 °C and resulted in 8% increase in the value of peak speed of the engine.

The growing transportation sector worldwide has opened up a way forward not only for the scientists & researchers but also for the OEMs to find out the options for fuel efficient automotive vehicles with reduced emissions during their usage. The demand of automotive vehicles has been doubled in last few years and in turn the market for lubricants and transmission fluids are flourishing. Several new formulations of lubricants are getting popularized with major suppliers to achieve the end user expectations in terms of fuel economy benefits, engine life and emissions. The market trend is continuously moving towards the improvement in lubricant formulation to the lower viscosity ranges and in this direction several companies are into development of multi-grade low viscosity range of engine oils (lubricants) which is said to be providing the benefits in terms of fuel economy.

Majority of light and heavy duty commercial vehicles on road in India use API-CF grade lubricants. Soot accumulation in lubricating oil can result in engine wear and lubricant’s viscosity increase thereby affecting its pumping ability and drain interval. Due to faster lubricant degradation and with emergence of newer engine technologies, there is increasing demand of improving performance of lubricants particularly with respect to soot dispersancy. This paper describes the various engine hardware modifications and optimizations carried out on a commercial BS II, 4-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine in order to develop a flexible engine test procedure for evaluating the lubricant’s dispersancy/anti wear characteristics up to 6% soot levels.

In the light of major research work carried out on the detrimental health impacts of ultrafine particles (<50 nm), Euro VI emission standards incorporate a limit on particle number, of which ultrafine particles is the dominant contributor. As Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a cheaper and cleaner fuel when compared to diesel, there has been a steady increase in the number of CNG vehicles on road especially in the heavy duty segment. Off late, there has been much focus on the nature of particle emissions emanating from CNG engines as these particles mainly fall under the ultrafine particle size range. The combustion of lubricant is considered to be the dominant source of particle emissions from CNG engines. Particle emission due to lubricant is affected by the oil transport mechanisms into the combustion chamber which in turn vary with engine operating conditions as well as with the physico chemical properties of the lubricant.

In the current scenario of global emissions, growing demand for petroleum fuels and highly volatile crude prices, the current usage of petroleum fuel must be curbed to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and to reduce environmental pollution several alternative fuels are being explored. Butanol is one of the potential alternative fuels that can be used in IC engines in the same way of conventional fuels for reducing conventional fuels. An experimental study was conducted to establish the impact of n-butanol as a blending component for gasoline fuel in passenger car on chassis dynamometer. Commercial gasoline meeting Euro-IV fuel standards was used as the base fuel while n-butanol was used as the blending component in the ratio of 5, 10 & 20% by volume. The vehicle was tested on chassis dynamometer for fuel evaluation in respect of fuel economy, regulated and un-regulation emissions under standard driving cycle of NEDC.

The Global Fuel Economy Initiative in 21st session of COP21 to the UNFCCC aims to develop 50 percent more efficient automobiles by the year 2050.This initiative has enhanced interest in fuel economy improvements and emission reduction using novel engine-related technologies and fuel efficient engine oil. Low viscosity grade engine oils have demonstrated the potential to improve the fuel economy by reducing the friction and lowering the greenhouse gases. In this context of developing fuel efficient engine oils, this study focuses on establishing the validity of an in-house short duration test protocol to differentiate engine oils from a fuel economy aspect and also attempts to relate reduced exhaust emissions. In the present study, low viscosity grade oils - SAE 0W-20, SAE 5W-30 and SAE 20W-40 as the baseline oil, were selected for assessing engine oil effects on fuel economy of diesel engines.

To tackle the problems associated with the volatility of crude oil prices and ever stringent emission norms, oil industries and automobiles manufacturers are experimenting with various alternative fuels to increase its percentage share in the energy mix and to reduce the vehicular emissions. Alcohols are preferred choice of alternative fuels for the gasoline engines as it does not require any major engine modification and new infrastructure for the fuel distribution network. Ethanol as sole fuel or blending component for gasoline for use in spark ignition engines has been investigated many decades. Currently, 10% ethanol is blended in motor gasoline in India and the ethanol concentration may be further increased in future. In order to study the effect of higher blends of ethanol (upto 20%) on engine in-cylinder combustion, performance and emission, investigations were carried out on a latest generation passenger car engine in a climatic controlled test cell.

Alcohols are preferred choice of alternative fuel for gasoline engines to tackle the problems associated with nation’s energy security and environmental pollution. Ethanol can be used as a sole fuel or gasoline blending component for use in spark ignition engines. BIS Specification 2796: 2013 permitted to blend 10% ethanol in gasoline and the concentration may be further increased in coming years in India. Research on combustion of ethanol blended gasoline on modern gasoline engine is highly desirable. This paper highlights the experimental investigation carried out on the latest generation multipoint fuel injection system passenger car engine fueled with ethanol-gasoline blends in a climatic controlled test cell to study the in-cylinder combustion, performance and emission characteristics. Part load tests at regular speed intervals were conducted using ethanol blends. Combustion duration decreased with increase in engine load and speed for the all test fuels.

N-butanol is a promising alternative fuel which needs no engine modification when used as a blend with diesel. The miscibility of n-butanol with diesel is excellent in a wide range of blending ratios. N-butanol has high oxygen content and a comparable energy content, specific gravity and viscosity to that of diesel, which makes it attractive for diesel engines as an alternative fuel. An experimental investigation was conducted to assess the performance of a new generation passenger car with respect to power, fuel economy (FE) and mass emission using 5, 10 and 20 percent (by vol.) n-butanol blends with diesel (NB). Computer controlled DC motor driven chassis dynamometer, AVL AMA I60 mass emission measuring system and AVL FSN smoke meter were used for measuring wide open throttle (WOT) power, road load simulation (RLS) fuel economy, mass emissions and smoke in WOT and steady speed driving conditions.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) present in ambient air are potentially toxic among the air pollutants. They are present in the urban atmosphere due to both exhaust emissions from vehicles and evaporative emissions at fuel filling stations. The present study aims to provide an indication of ambient levels of benzene, a carcinogenic VOC in the immediate vicinity of petrol filling stations in Delhi & National Capital Region (NCR). The monitoring of benzene is conducted across the vicinity of petrol stations to ascertain the effect of outside pollutant concentration on forecourt area. Continuous monitoring of benzene was achieved by an air quality monitoring facility stationed across the selected locations at four selected fuel filling stations. It was observed that the average concentrations of benzene measured during the study ranged between 2.28 ppb - 9.43 ppb.