Conversion of a Spark-Ignition Gasoline Engine to Syngas: Assessment of Technical and Economic Indicators Based on Numerical Modeling

The use of various alternative and renewable fuels (biodiesel, hydrogen, syngas and others) is a prospective direction in the development of piston engines. Setting the parameters of the working process and the design of such engines is usually carried out through mathematical modeling in specialized software products. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and optimize the technical and economic indicators of a piston engine after its conversion from gasoline to synthesis gas based on mathematical modeling of the working cycle. The article presents the technical characteristics of a piston engine, the parameters of the working cycle of the engine, the physical and chemical properties of gasoline and syngas, the main boundary conditions of modeling. It is shown that the conversion of the engine from gasoline to synthesis gas leads to a decrease in power by an average of 32% and efficiency up to 7%. The influence of various parameters of the working cycle on the technical and economic indicators of a piston engine operating on syngas has been established. It was revealed that adjusting the parameters of the working cycle leads to a significant improvement in the performance of the piston engine on synthesis gas (power reduction does not exceed 11% with an increase in efficiency by an average of 5%). The data obtained can be used to convert other engines to syngas or to design new gas engines.