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Most of the energy consumed in today's mobility industry is derived from fossil fuels. The demand for clean, renewable and affordable alternative energy is forcing the automotive industry to look beyond the conventional fossil fuels. Fuels options like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas (CNG) and ethanol blends are quickly finding widespread acceptance as alternative sources. This paper presents the results of experimental studies conducted on a 1.2-liter MPI engine with three different alternate fuels. The fuels considered for the evaluation (apart from base gasoline) are 10% ethanol-blended fuel (E10), LPG (gaseous propane: butane mix) and CNG (gaseous methane). Experiments were conducted to compare their effect on engine performance and emissions. The test results show that E10 has the lowest power drop whereas CNG has the highest power drop (12%) as compared to gasoline. The maximum power drop in LPG is 4%, which is close to the theoretical predictions.

In developing countries, the recent rise in the operating cost of gasoline passenger cars has forced vehicle / fleet owners to opt for alternative gaseous fuels like CNG and LPG. Due to non-availability of the efficient gaseous systems from OEMs, many ‘retro’ or after market kits are being used by the vehicle owners to take the advantage of the low kit cost. These after market systems pose major issues related to engine warranty, safety, emission compliance, performance, driveability and adverse effect on the main stream gasoline engine. This paper describes the development of 1.2L, Bi-fuel (Gasoline – LPG) MPI engine for the Indian market. The objective of the project is to develop a bi-fuel LPG variant of the already existing gasoline engine without compromising on performance, driveability, safety and emissions with minimum cost impact. Precise control of LPG operation necessary to meet the engineering targets is achieved by use of EMS in master-slave architecture.