On reducing the emissions of CO, HC, and NO_x from gasoline blended with hydrogen peroxide and ethanol: Optimization study aided with ANN-PSO

The use of ethanol blending for gasoline has been found to have a significant effect in reducing emissions without any loss in the performance of a spark ignition engine. However, an increase in the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) may be seen due to the increased oxygen content in the fuel. On the contrary, emulsifying fuel with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) has shown a substantial effect in reducing all the emissions, including NO_x in a compression ignition (CI) engine. In this study, 10% ethanol is blended with gasoline (E10) and further emulsified with H₂O₂ up to 1.5%. When compared to neat gasoline, a 4.8% increase in brake thermal efficiency (BTE) is obtained with 10% ethanol and 1.5% H₂O₂. The corresponding average decrease in the emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and NO_x were 80%, 43%, and 17%, respectively. The results of the experimental trials are used to model an artificial neural network (ANN) to derive a relationship between the input factors of ethanol concentration, H₂O₂ concentration, and engine speeds with the output responses of BTE, CO, HC, and NO_x. The ANN models of each response are optimized using a multi-objective particle swarm optimization (PSO) for maximizing BTE and minimizing emissions of CO, HC, and NO_x. The PSO results showed that operating the engine at 2000 rpm using ethanol blending between 4 and 6% and H₂O₂ emulsification of 1.5% are the best optimal conditions.