SAE International Fuel Economy and CO 2 Emissions of Ethanol-Gasoline Blends in a Turbocharged DI Engine 2013-01-1321

Engine dynamometer testing was performed comparing E10, E20, and E30 splash-blended fuels in a Ford 3.5L EcoBoost direct injection (DI) turbocharged engine. The engine was tested with compression ratios (CRs) of 10.0:1 (current production) and 11.9:1. In this engine, E20 (96 RON) fuel at 11.9:1 CR gave very similar knock performance to E10 (91 RON) fuel at 10:1 CR. Similarly, E30 (101 RON) fuel at 11.9:1 CR resulted in knock-limited performance equivalent to E20 at 10:1 CR, indicating that E30 could have been run at even higher CR with acceptable knock behavior. The data was used in a vehicle simulation of a 3.5L EcoBoost pickup truck, which showed that the E20 (96 RON) fuel at 11.9:1 CR offers 5% improvement in U.S. EPA Metro-Highway (M/H) and US06 Highway cycle tank-to-wheels CO\u2082 emissions over the E10 fuel, with comparable volumetric fuel economy (miles per gallon) and range before refueling. The results also indicated that the E30 (101 RON) fuel at 11.9:1 CR provides improvements in CO\u2082 emissions of 5% on the EPA M/H cycle and 7.5% on the US06 Highway cycle, while volumetric fuel economy was 3% lower on the M/H cycle and approximately equal on the US06 Highway cycle, compared to the baseline E10 fuel at 10:1 CR.