Deccan Herald
 
Mangalore, Jul 19: With the hike in fuel prices every now and then, is it possible to use any alternate fuel like alcohol instead of petrol for vehicles? It is not a dream any more.

The final year Mechanical Engineering students Sudeep R J Gonsalves, Ryan E B Heri, Sunil Shenoy K, Vikram P S and Sushanth Rao of Nitte Mahalinga Adyanthaya Memorial Institute of Technology () have come out with a new formula for vehicle which uses ethyl alcohol (ethanol) instead of petrol as fuel.

According to a press release, the students have experimented it on a two-stroke Luna Magnum. Since the calorific value of ethyl alcohol (30,000 KJ/kg) is less than that of petrol (44,000 KJ/kg), the jet size of the carburettor has to be increased by 1.2 times than that used for petrol. Besides, this they have also blocked one of the three air holes for higher power output. In other engines, it may be necessary to adjust the air screw for optimum results. Since the two stroke engine demands a mixture of lubricant and fuel, the students have found that castor oil is completely miscible unlike other petroleum based lubricants.

The release said since the octane rating of ethanol (113) is much higher than that of petrol (89), knocking of the engine could be drastically reduced. This resulted in the higher power output.

Another major advantage is that emission of major pollutants like Carbon monoxide, Hydrocarbons, Nitrogen and Sulphur found to be less than 0.01 per cent with ethanol compared to petrol.

The high octane number of ethanol permits the compression ratio to be increased upto 10:1, thereby resulting in higher power output, the release claimed.

Ethanol containing 5 to 15 per cent of water can be used for running an engine.

Molasses, a byproduct of sugar is used in the production of ethanol. The present production cost is Rs 18.75 per litre exclusive of all taxes. The cost can be reduced if mass production is taken up.

The students completed their project under the guidance of their Professor Vinaya B R.