CHARACTERIZATION AND SI ENGINE TESTING OF GASOLINE AND BLENDS OF GASOLINE AND BIOETHANOL PRODUCED FROM CO-FERMENTED WATERMELON AND PINEAPPLE WASTES

Industrial development and population growth are two key factors that have led to increased energy consumption. Conventional energy sources are fast becoming insufficient in matching the increased demands. Over the last two decades, a great interest in exploring alternative energy sources has been developed. Amongst the highly sought for alternatives to fossil fuel, biofuel has gained high recognition. In this research, bioethanol produced from co-fermentation of watermelon and pineapple waste using Saccharomyces cerevisiae was successfully studied and compared to standard values. Performance evaluation of the spark ignition (S.I) single cylinder, four stroke and air-cooled engine running on gasoline and bioethanol blends was analysed. The engine brake power, torque, exhaust gas temperature performance with E14 (blending 14% bioethanol with 86% gasoline) was found to be better than pure petrol at various load ranging between 500g to 3000g. The brake specific fuel consumption was however better with gasoline than the blends at various loads. The overall performance results showed that a blend containing 14% bioethanol, and 86% gasoline can be successfully used as petrol substitute without any modification in the available engine design.