Improvement Efficiency and Emission Reduction in Used Cars for Developing Regions Using Gasoline–Bioethanol Blends

Alejandro Zacarías (), Mario R. Grijalva, José de Jesús Rubio, Guerlin Romage, Violeta Y. Mena, Raúl Hernández, Ignacio Carvajal, Alicia Flores, Orlando Guarneros and Brayan A. Rodríguez
Additional contact information
Alejandro Zacarías: Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica Unidad Azcapotzalco, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 02550, Mexico
Mario R. Grijalva: Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica Unidad Azcapotzalco, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 02550, Mexico
José de Jesús Rubio: Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica Unidad Azcapotzalco, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 02550, Mexico
Guerlin Romage: Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica Unidad Azcapotzalco, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 02550, Mexico
Violeta Y. Mena: Centro Mexicano para la Producción másLimpia, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 07340, Mexico
Raúl Hernández: Centro Mexicano para la Producción másLimpia, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 07340, Mexico
Ignacio Carvajal: Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica Unidad Zacatenco, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 07738, Mexico
Alicia Flores: Escuela Superior de Comercio y Administración Unidad Santo Tomás, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 11340, Mexico
Orlando Guarneros: Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí 78290, Mexico
Brayan A. Rodríguez: Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica, Universidad Santo Tomás, Villavicencio 500003, Meta, Colombia

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Energy demand is continuously increasing owing to rapid technological developments and population growth. Additionally, it has been shown that the consumption of fossil fuels contributes to the emission of gases that increase the greenhouse effect. An alternative for addressing the problems of greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on oil is to replace fossil fuels with biofuels. This article presents the combustion gas emissions and performance assessment of a used car using gasoline–bioethanol blends at concentrations free of mechanical risk to contribute information for energy transition. The tests were carried out using the mixtures E0, E5, and E10 at speeds of 1500, 2500, and 4500 rpm for the evaluation of emissions. Meanwhile, for the performance assessment, the speed was varied from 2500 rpm to 8000 rpm. The vehicle was analyzed under functional operating conditions, and no mechanical modifications were made to the alcohol mixtures. Testing was performed using a gas analyzer with non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) electroluminescence and electrochemical cells to measure the emissions, and a computerized chassis dynamometer was used to measure the torque and speed. From the results shown here, it can be concluded that the use of bioethanol at low concentrations in the range without mechanical risk, such as E0, E5, and E10, can be utilized in used cars and in functional operating conditions, improving the thermal efficiency of the engine by 2% and 1.2% with the E5 and E10 mixtures. The specific consumption increased up to 3% with the E10 mixture owing to the lower energy capacity of the mixture. Meanwhile, HC polluting emissions decreased by up to 8.44%, 20%, and 100 at speeds of 1500 rpm, 2500 rpm, and 4500 rpm, respectively. The nitrogen oxide emissions decreased by up to 5% for mixtures E5 and E10. The results presented in this article may be useful for decision making in the use of biofuels in automobiles used in the energy transition. In addition, our study can be taken as a reference for studies on cars that are more than 20 years old.

Keywords: air/fuel ratio; gas emissions; gasoline–bioethanol blends; performance assessment; used car; greenhouse effect; human health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/3/638/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/3/638/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:3:p:638-:d:1580377

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().