Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers

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Study on performance enhancement and emission

reduction of used carburetor motorcycles fueled
by flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol blends

Thanh Dinh, Khanh Nguyen, Tuan Pham & Vinh Nguyen

To cite this article: Thanh Dinh, Khanh Nguyen, Tuan Pham & Vinh Nguyen (2020): Study
on performance enhancement and emission reduction of used carburetor motorcycles fueled
by flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol blends, Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, DOI:
10.1080/02533839.2020.1751719

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02533839.2020.1751719

Published online: 30 Apr 2020.

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JOURNAL OF THE CHINESE INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS
https://doi.org/10.1080/02533839.2020.1751719

Study on performance enhancement and emission reduction of used carburetor

motorcycles fueled by flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol blends
Thanh Dinha, Khanh Nguyenb, Tuan Phamb and Vinh Nguyen c

a
Faculty of Automobile Technology, Hanoi University of Industry, Hanoi, Vietnam; bSchool of Transportation and Engineering, Hanoi University of
Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam; cFaculty of Vehicle and Energy Engineering, Phenikaa University, Hanoi, Vietnam

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Recently, flexible fuel vehicles have become more and more popular worldwide since they can run on any Received 19 September 2018
fuel blend of conventional and alternative fuels. However, these technologies have been typically Accepted 26 March 2020
developed for new engines, which popularly use fuel injection systems. However, in developing coun- KEYWORDS
tries, where there are many old motorcycles, these systems are not in general use. In this study, the Bio-ethanol; gasoline-
experimental research focuses on the usage of flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol for currently used carburetor ethanol blends; flexible fuel
motorcycles in Vietnam. As a result, the original fuel supply system has been modified to allow the vehicle; exhaust emissions
carburetor motorcycles to flexibly run on any fuel blend. In the experiments, the carburetor fuel systems
of the motorcycles have been modified by adding an extra fuel system for supplying additional fuel into
the intake manifold when running a gasoline-ethanol fuel blend. The experimental results show that the
test motorcycles operate well on any blend after modification. Furthermore, the specific energy con-
sumption and exhaust emissions of the test motorcycle reduced significantly by applying the new fuel
supply system. This research also suggests that the old generation carburetor motorcycles can operate
flexibly on gasoline-ethanol fuel blends in order to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.

1. Introduction et al. 2015; Vinh and Kim 2017; Duy et al. 2015; Xu, Wang, and
Chen 2004; Duc and Duy 2018; Dong et al. 2017; Zheng et al.
Recently, big cities of Vietnam have faced many challenges due
2018). Over the last two decades, ethanol has been promoted
to energy demand and polluted environment due to the indus-
as a potential source to replace conventional gasoline in many
trialization process and vehicle development. According to the
countries, such as the USA, Brazil, and South Earth Asia
report of Vietnam’s government, transportation is a major pol-
countries.
lution contributor, which produces approximately 85% of car-
Research conducted by Goldemberg (2006) analyzed the suc-
bon monoxide (CO) emissions over Vietnam (Duc and Duy
cess of the ethanol program in Brazil. It also indicated that this
2018). As clearly described in (Duc, Tien, and Duy 2018), the
program can be replicated in other countries in order to reduce
motorcycle is the major transportation vehicle in Vietnam with
the world’s gasoline consumption up to approximately 10%.
more than 40 million vehicles in 2016 and 54 million vehicles in
Schifter et al. (2018) produced ethanol blends used for gasoline
March 2018; thus, it is the main pollution source in Vietnam. To
vehicles, finding that unburned hydrocarbon (HC) and CO emis-
limit exhaust emissions from new vehicles, the European emis-
sions were lower than those of gasoline. However, nitrogen
sion standards that define the acceptable limits for exhaust
oxides (NOx) emissions varied depending on vehicle quality.
emissions of new vehicles sold in the country have been
Other studies described in (Durbin et al. 2007; Graham, Belisle,
applied. The Vietnamese government has promulgated policies
and Baas 2008; Clairotte et al. 2013) also suggested that when
to control emissions of vehicles by approving Euro III emission
increasing the ethanol ratio in the fuel blends, the level of some
legislation for new motorcycles from July 2017. However, as
regulated gases such as CO, HC, and NOx could be reduced.
mentioned above, a huge number of used motorcycles are still
However, as opposed to the promising benefits in the emission,
a challenge. Hence, new technology applications in the road
the higher concentration of ethanol in fuel blends results in the
transport sector and changing from fossil fuel to renewable
higher emissions of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde.
energy are stringent necessities, to solve both the problems
In the studies conducted by Iodice, Langella, and Amoresano
related to the energy crisis and vehicle emissions from two-
(2018) and Iodice and Senatore (2013a), the characteristics and
wheelers (Iodice and Senatore 2013a, 2013b, 2015).
advantages of gasoline-ethanol blends as a fuel substituting for
In recent decades, renewable and alternative energy have spark-ignition (SI) engines were clearly explained. These studies
been developed as feasible solutions to solve both the fossil showed that it is necessary to add more ethanol to maintain the
energy crisis and the polluted environment as mentioned in original engine power due to the lower heating value of ethanol
previous studies. For example, fuel cell, solar cell, wind energy, compared to that of gasoline. However, ethanol has a higher
and biofuel have been developed and applied worldwide (Duy octane number than gasoline; thus, it could be operated at

CONTACT Vinh Nguyen vinh.nguyenduy@phenikaa-uni.edu.vn Faculty of Vehicle and Energy Engineering, Phenikaa University, Yen Nghia Ward, Ha Dong
District, Hanoi, Vietnam
© 2020 The Chinese Institute of Engineers
2 T. DINH ET AL.
a higher compression ratio without knocking. In addition,
a higher latent heat of vaporization compared to gasoline results
in the lower intake manifold temperature since it requires more
energy for the evaporation. Thus, the volumetric efficiency of the
engine can be increased. Nevertheless, this phenomenon can
cause the lower temperature and burning speed of the combus-
tion process, CO and HC emissions could be higher, as a result.
Furthermore, engines fueled by ethanol present the cold-start
problem during the warm-up phase due to its lower Reid vapor
pressure (RVP). However, the RVP of the ethanol-gasoline blends
is not proportional to the percentage of ethanol. Indeed, when
increasing the ethanol percentage, the RVP of the blend will
increase and reach a maximum value at a proportion of about
15% by volume of ethanol and the RVP declines with higher
ethanol percentage. Due to the above advantages, in Vietnam,
ethanol has been considered as the fuel to be applied to spark-
ignition engines, especially for motorcycles, not only to replace
conventional gasoline but also to encourage the agricultural
development in the countryside as mentioned in previous stu-
dies. However, the difficulties of design and high cost of the
modified fuel supply systems cause limitations in using ethanol
in worldwide applications. For example, some previous studies
using gasoline-ethanol fuel blends on motorbikes had been
conducted to evaluate the effects of ethanol blend ratio on the
engine characteristics and material comparability (Tuan and
Tuan 2009; Tuyen et al. 2012). The results showed that the test
engine could operate well with low ethanol content (20% by
volume). However, it was necessary to modify the fuel system of
the engine in order to run with a higher ratio of ethanol in fuel
blends. In addition, bio-ethanol could have an effect on some
plastic, and bronze elements in the fuel system of the engine. In
our previous study (Duc, Tien, and Duy 2018), we aimed to
design a new fuel system for old motorcycles fueled by either
ethanol or gasoline. The study results showed that the usage of
ethanol leads to engine performance improvement and exhaust
emission reduction. However, in this study, the motorcycle could
only run with either pure ethanol or pure gasoline. Based on the
above studies, in this research, we aim to design a new fuel
supply system for currently used carburetor motorcycles in
order to flexibly run on any fuel blend. Although the carburetor
system has actually become less popular due to the develop-
ment of technological progress; carburetor technology is being
replaced by electric fuel injection systems and will be slowly
withdrawn from the market in the future, carburetors are still
common in many developing countries such as India and
Vietnam. Indeed, the India motorcycle carburetor market
enjoyed rapid development in the last decades because of the
fast growth of motorcycle production. And in the near future, the
market for motorcycle carburetors in India will continue to grow,
according to a report by Innovate Insights firm (https://www.
innovateinsights.com). As described above, in Vietnam, there are
nearly 54 million motorcycles and most of them use the carbure-
tor system as mentioned in Duc and Duy (2018). Consequently,
the scope of this research is finding an applicable solution for old
motorcycle models in Vietnam involving a suitable design of
a new fuel supply system with flexible adjustment and cheap
price. It is necessary to modify the structure of the original fuel
supply system because of the different characteristics of ethanol
and gasoline as mentioned above. Thus, an amount of additional
fuel has been supplied into the intake manifold through an
independent extra injector controlled by an electric control
module, while the original carburetor still supplies the main
amount of fuel for all operating conditions of the engine. The
performance and emission characteristics of the test motorcycle
using pure gasoline and ethanol-gasoline blends have been
evaluated after the modification. The expected result of this
research is an effective solution for widely applying bio-ethanol
as a potential alternative energy source to replace the conven-
tional gasoline fuel in currently used motorcycles in Vietnam, in
order to solve the fossil fuel crisis and environmental problems.
2. Theoretical and experimental methods for
modifying the fuel supply system
2.1. Theoretical fuel supply system design
Based on the theoretical calculation of an ideal combustion
process of fuel with air, the stoichiometric ratio of air to fuel
(A/F) to reach the complete combustion of pure gasoline and
pure bio-ethanol fuel are 14.7:1 and 9:1, respectively. Because
of this different property, it is necessary to adjust the mass flow
rate of supplying fuel to attain the highest energy conversion
efficiency. Consequently, the required mass of intake air to burn
completely 1 kg of gasoline-ethanol fuel blend is below 147
and above 9.0. This issue was clearly pointed out in our pre-
vious research (Duc, Tien, and Duy 2018). As a result, it is
necessary to modify the original carburetor of the fuel system
to react to any ratio of bio-ethanol to gasoline in the fuel
blends. The mathematics of fuel system improvement is estab-
lished by the flow rate of intake air and supplying fuel flowing
through the throttle and main nozzle as presented in Figure 1.
The conceptual mass flow rate of intake air (GA) flowing
through the throttle of a carburetor is specified in Equation
(1) (Heywood 1988):
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
GA ¼ ðπdv2 =4Þμv 2Δpv ρ0 ; (1)
where ρ0 is the air density; Δpv is the throttle vacuum pressure; μv
is the flow coefficient of the venture; and dv is the venture bore.
And the amount of fuel (mj) passing through the main
nozzle of the carburetor is calculated by multiplication of fuel
speed, fuel density, the discharge coefficient, and area of the
orifice as shown in Equation (2) (Heywood 1988):
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
mj ¼ μd  fd 2ðΔpv  g  Δh  ρf Þ  ρf ; (2)
where ρf is the fuel density; g is the acceleration of gravity; Δh is
the distance between fuel level in the float chamber and fuel
discharge nozzle of the carburetor; μd and fd are the discharge
coefficient and area of the orifice.
The air excess ratio of the mixture of air and fuel in the case
of using blend and pure gasoline is defined in Equation (3):
GA GA
λG ¼   and λB ¼   ; (3)
A= A
F G  mG =F  mB
B
where GA is the mass flow rate of intake air determined by
Equation (1); λG and λB are the air excess ratio when using pure
gasoline and using fuel blend, respectively; (A/F)G and (A/F)B are
the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio of gasoline and fuel blend,
 JOURNAL OF THE CHINESE INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS 3

mass fuel supply for a carburetor engine can be changed based

on provision of additional fuel into the intake manifold by an
extra fuel injector placed after the carburetor in order to guar-
antee the ratio of air to fuel and output power of the engine.
In this study, we have designed an extra supplying fuel appa-
ratus for currently used carburetor motorbikes to add to the
original carburetor so the retrofitted engine can operate evenly
with any proportion of bioethanol in the fuel blend. According to
these above analyses, an auxiliary injector is appended to the
intake manifold, after the carburetor, of the test motorcycle to
supply additional fuel to guarantee the ratio of air to the fuel of the
charged mixture. The schematic of the newly designed flex-fuel
carburetor ethanol-gasoline system is clearly shown in Figure 2.
The essential of the retrofitted system is that the engine can
flexibly run on any blend. When using blends as a fuel for the
engine, the extra injector is activated to supply additional fuel into
the intake manifold; however, in case of using pure gasoline, the
extra injector is deactivated. Additional fuel is injected into the
inlet manifold after throttle by the electric controller module,
which receives three important signals for controlling the injection
duration of the extra injector. The electric controller module
receives the rotational signal (one pulse per revolution) from the
original engine as trigger timing to control the extra injector. The
opening duration of the extra injector in the case of using blend is
consistently calculated and adjusted based on the ratio of ethanol
Figure 1. Diagram of elementary carburetor. to gasoline to guarantee the stoichiometric ratio of air to fuel at all
operating conditions. The ethanol proportion in the fuel supplying
line is continuously measured by the ethanol sensor module and
respectively; mG and mB are mass of pure gasoline and fuel blend
fed back to the electric controller module. Another important
supplied to the engine, respectively.
signal for calculation of additional fuel is pressure of charge in
The stoichiometric air/fuel ratio of fuel blend is determined
the intake manifold, which represents load condition or throttle
as Equation (4):
      position. The intake manifold pressure parameter is measured by
A= A A a manifold absolute pressure sensor (MAP sensor) and sent to the
F B ¼ =F G  %mG þ =F E  %mE ; (4)
    electric controller module. The principle of operation presented in
where A=F ¼ 14:7and A=F ¼ 9:0 are stoichiometric air to Figure 2 shows that the fuel blend after the fuel tank is divided
G E
fuel ratio of gasoline and ethanol, respectively; %mG and %mE into two lines; the first one is supplied into the float chamber of
are the mass fraction of gasoline and ethanol in the fuel blend, the carburetor and the other one comes into the pressured pump
respectively. Consider f is the percentage of the volume of before feeding into the extra injector. During operation, a mixture
ethanol in the fuel blends, %mG and % mE are determined as of ethanol and gasoline is provided to the test engine simulta-
the following equations: neously through the original carburetor and the extra injector. The
mass of additional fuel supplied to the intake manifold is calcu-
ð1  f Þ  ρG
%mG ¼ and %mE lated based on the ethanol proportion in the fuel blend measured
ð1  f Þ  ρG þ f  ρE by the ethanol sensor and load condition determined by the MAP
f  ρE
¼ ; (5) sensor. The substance of the research is increasing the amount of
ð1  f Þ  ρG þ f  ρE fuel blend supplied to the engine so that the air excess ratio of the
where ρG = 0.73 kg/l and ρE = 0.79 kg/l are the density of test engine remains constant when using the flex-fuel blend
gasoline and ethanol, respectively. compared to using pure gasoline. The quantity of additional fuel
Based on Equation (3), to ensure the air excess ratio in the is determined based on guaranteeing the air excess ratio of the
case of using fuel blend does not change in comparison with mixture does not change when using flex-fuel ethanol-gasoline in
the case of using conventional gasoline fuel λG ¼ λB , thus: comparison with that of pure gasoline as shown in Equation (6).
    Since the value (A/F)B varies depending on the ethanol content in
A= A
F G  mG ¼ =F B  mB : (6) the blend, the mass of the fuel blend supplied needs to be
adjusted accordingly. In the case of fueling with flex-fuel blend,
The amount of fuel flowing through the main jet depends the amount of fuel blend (mB) supplied to the engine is deter-
on the characteristics of fuel blend, so an adjustment in the mined by Equation (7):
structure of the carburetor is required for any proportion of
ethanol in fuel blends because the theoretical mass flow rate of mB ¼ mj þ Δm; (7)
air for complete combustion of fuel blends is various corre-
sponding to the ratio of ethanol to gasoline in the blend. The
4 T. DINH ET AL.

Figure 2. The principle schematic of a newly designed flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol system.

where mj is the mass of fuel passed from the main nozzle of the engine runs with pure gasoline (mG), determined by
carburetor; Δm is the amount of additional fuel blend provided experiment.
from the extra injector.
Ignoring the effect of the change in the density of the fuel
blend, then mG ~ mj, Equation (6) becomes: 2.2. Test fuels and motorcycle selection
    The experimental research has been carried out on three
A=  ¼ A=
F G m G F  ðmG þ ΔmÞ ) Δm
0B  1 currently used carburetor motorcycles, popularly used in
A= Vietnam. The three selected motorcycles have various dis-
B F C
¼ mG @  G  1A: (8) placement ranges from 100 to 125 cm3, which is common
A=
F B for old generation carburetor motorcycles. The properties of
the motorcycles are listed in Table 1. Following the specifi-
With the term defined in Equation (4) and Equation (5), from cations of the selected motorcycles, the extra fuel system
Equation (8), the amount of additional fuel blend provided including fuel pump, fuel injector, and the electric controller
from the extra injector is determined by Equation (9) as follows: module has been built for experimental tests. As described,
the MAP sensor has been used for the determination of
4:503  f intake manifold vacuum pressure, which corresponds to
Δm ¼ mG  : (9) throttle position or flow rate of intake mixture. The ignition
10:731  3:621  f
signal of the original engine, generated from pick up coil, is
The amount of additional fuel (Δm) is a function of the the essential signal. This signal is sent to the electric con-
proportion by volume of ethanol in the blend (f), determined troller module for measuring rotational speed and used as
by ethanol sensor and the amount of fuel consumption as the a trigger pulse for controlling the extra injector. The fuels

Table 1. Parameters of selected engines and motorcycles.

Motorcycle model Wave Alpha 100 Wave RSX 110 Future Neo 125
Net weight (kg) 98 102 105
Dimensions (mm) 1908 × 699 × 1010 1919 × 709 × 1080 1890 × 705 × 1085
Transmission 4-speed forward manual 4-speed forward manual 4-speed forward manual
Mileage (km) 60,000 km 50,000 km 40,000 km
Engine Single cylinder, OHC 2 valves, Spark ignition Single cylinder, OHC 2 valves, Spark ignition Single cylinder, OHC 2 valves, Spark ignition
Fuel system type Carburetor Carburetor with acceleration system Carburetor with acceleration system
Starting system Electric starter Electric starter Electric starter
Displacement (cm3) 97.0 109.1 124.8
Bore × Stroke (mm) 50.0 × 49.5 50.0 × 55.6 52.4 × 57.9
Max engine speed (rpm) 8000 8000 8000
Max power output (kW) 5.1 kW/8000 rpm 6.5 kW/7500 rpm 7.06 kW/7500 rpm
Max torque output (Nm) 7.0 Nm/5500 rpm 8.77 Nm/5500 rpm 9.9 Nm/5500 rpm
Compression ratio 9.0:1 9.3:1 9.3:1
 JOURNAL OF THE CHINESE INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS 5

Table 2. Properties of test fuels.

Characteristics Gasoline E25 E50 E75 E100
Distillation temperature (oC) IBP 38.9 48 57 67 75.5
t10 53.6 62 70 74 77
t50 93.6 90 86 82 78
t90 158.6 123 110 95 79
EBP 180 166 152 137 123
Octane number 92 99.25 103.1 105.5 108
Latent heat of vaporization (kJ/kg) at 25°C 340 523 690 800 890
C content (wt %) 85 76.3 68.0 59.9 52.2
O content (wt %) 0 9.2 18.0 26.5 34.7
Density (kg/l) at 15°C 0.73 0.75 0.76 0.78 0.79
LHV (MJ/kg) 44 39.4 35.1 30.9 26.8
A/F ratio (kg) 14.7 13.2 11.7 10.3 8.96
Reid of vapor pressure (kPa) 60 66.0 58.9 47.4 15.1

Figure 3. The newly designed flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol system.

applied in this experiment include E0 (pure gasoline), E25,
E50, E75, and E100 (pure ethanol). The properties of test
fuels are listed in Table 2 and the newly designed flex-fuel
gasoline-ethanol system is described in Figure 3.
2.3. Experimental apparatus
The equipment used in the study includes a fluid chassis dynam-
ometer, fuel measuring instrument and emission analyzers. The
fluid chassis dynamometer consists of a water absorption unit
and devices which calculate the brake torque and speed of
revolution of the dynamometer. Through the fluid chassis
dynamometer, the users could easily manage revolution speed
and braking power at the wheel of the test motorcycles. The
chassis dyno could be easily controlled by an easy to use visua-
lization based on Lab VIEW installed on a computer, by which the
signals provided from encoder and load cell have been analyzed
and displayed. The chassis dyno could absorb mechanical power
from the wheel of the test motorcycle and convert it into heat
energy. The main specifications of the dyno are listed in Table 3.
The specific fuel consumption by the test motorcycle is deter-
mined by the fuel measuring instrument, the AVL 733 S fuel
balancer using the gravimetrical method. The fuel balancer
device has a high-precision fuel consumption measurement
even at low consumption and short measuring time. The gas-
eous emission of the test motorcycle is measured by analyzers
including HC, CO, and NOx measurement devices. The CO emis-
sion is analyzed by using non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) method;
HC emission is analyzed by a Flame Ionization Detector (FID) and
NOx by a Chemiluminescence detector (CLD). All these instru-
ments have their own hardware interface for performing proces-
sing tasks and can be controlled directly from an easy to use
computer. The diagram of the testing apparatus and the motor-
cycle test rig have been presented in Figures 4 and 5.
6 T. DINH ET AL.

Table 3. Specifications of the fluid chassis dynamometer. determination of additional fuel by Equation (9) when the test
Specifications Value motorcycles run with any gasoline-ethanol blend. On the chassis
Maximum test speed 90 km/h dynamometer, at each operating mode determined by two para-
Maximum brake power 7 kW
meters including rotational speed and the vacuum pressure in the
Usage temperature 0–80°C
Power supply for water pump 220 VAC intake manifold of the test engines, fuel consumption was mea-
Frequency 50 Hz sured and recorded. Thanks to the measured figure of the fuel
Main roller diameter × Length 160 × 250 mm × mm
consumption of the three test motorcycles, the fuel consumption
Semi roller diameter × Length 160 × 200 mm × mm
database was established. Based on this database, the electric
control module calculates the mass flow rate of additional fuel
regarding using a gasoline-ethanol blend case and flexibly con-
2.4. Additional injection database construction
trols according to any proportion of ethanol in fuel blend and
The fuel consumed by the original test motorcycles in the case of vacuum pressure in the intake manifold relating to theory calcula-
running with conventional gasoline was measured for tion as described above.

Figure 4. The schematic of the experimental system.

Figure 5.(a) Test motorcycles assembled in the chassis dyno; (b) Wave Alpha 100 cm3, (c) Wave RSX 110 cm3, (d) and Future Neo 125 cm3.
 JOURNAL OF THE CHINESE INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS 7

Figure 6. Fuel consumption of the test motorcycles as a function of rotational speed and throttle position obtained in three tests, (a) Wave Alpha 100 cm3, (b) Wave RSX
110 cm3, and (c) Future Neo 125 cm3.

The selected motorcycles were tested in steady states, and
their throttle positions were controlled in the range from 25%
to 100% with the interval of 25%; meanwhile, motorcycle speed
was adjusted from 20 to 80 km per hour with the interval of
10 km/h by controlling braking torque in the fluid chassis
dynamometer. Consequently, the fuel consumption of the
test motorcycles was measured as a function of the rotational
speed of the engine and vacuum pressure in the intake mani-
fold and the results obtained in three tests are plotted as shown
in Figure 6. The results show that the average consumed fuel
8 T. DINH ET AL.

Table 4. The collection database of fuel consumption with pure gasoline (mg/ consequence, the effective power at wheel and fuel consump-
cycle).
tion and exhaust pollutants of the selected motorcycle with
Throttle position (%) each kind of fuel blend have been measured and recorded for
Speed (rpm) 100 75 50 25 comparison.
3042 11.55 5.83 4.46 3.07
3537 12.10 5.97 4.63 3.20
3992 11.69 6.29 4.64 3.20
4498 11.42 6.27 4.64 3.13 3. Results and discussion
5107 11.44 6.26 4.65 3.13
6003 11.06 5.99 4.40 3.00 3.1. Comparison of the performance characteristics
As clearly presented in the literature (Iodice, Langella, and
Amoresano 2018; Iodice and Senatore 2013b), not only the A/
per cycle of the engine varies in proportion to throttle position
F ratio but the low heating value of ethanol is also less than that
significantly and is moderately affected by the engine speed. As
of gasoline. Therefore, with any proportion of bioethanol in the
a result, in this study, we assume that fuel consumption per
fuel blend, the supply fuel system of the test motorcycle must
cycle of the engine only depends on throttle position, which
have the ability to supply a changeable amount of fuel in
relates to vacuum pressure measuring by MAP sensors.
accordance with various operating conditions. This issue can
Since the testing modes fail to match the real operating con-
be resolved by adjusting the injection duration of the extra
ditions of the test motorcycles, the linear interpolation method is
injector. After installing the new system on the selected motor-
a good solution to construct new data points within the range of
cycle, the engine can easily start when using 100% ethanol and
known operating modes. Based on the above collection database
works stably in idling condition.
of fuel consumption of test motorcycles fueled with conventional
As shown in Figure 7, the brake power at the wheel of the
gasoline, by a two-dimensional linear interpolation method, addi-
selected motorcycle obtained in three tests with each kind of
tional fuel in the case of fueling with blend is calculated. The
fuel blends is compared as a function of speed. The power
collection database as a function of the rotational speed of the
performance curves of the test motorcycle when using gaso-
engine and throttle position is clearly presented in Table 4.
line-ethanol blends have a similar trend as the case of using
pure gasoline. Especially, the power of the test motorcycle
fueled with low content of ethanol blends increases in correla-
2.5. Selection of testing procedures
tion to the case of using pure fossil fuel because of oxidation
One of the three test motorcycles (Wave RSX 110) has been process improvement. The biggest deviation of power is about
selected to modify the fuel system as shown in Figure 3. 6% at 60 km/h as the engine fueled with E25 in comparison
Corresponding to each fuel blends E0 (pure gasoline), E25, with pure gasoline. However, using gasoline-ethanol blends
E50, E75, and E100 (pure ethanol), the selected motorcycle with a high content of ethanol reduces the power of test
has been evaluated at steady state. By which, the throttle is at motorcycle, especially in the case of using pure ethanol. On
the fully opened position and motorcycle speed has been the other hand, the average brake specific energy consumption
changed by controlling braking torque of the fluid dyno so (BSEC) of test motorcycle fueled with each kind of fuel blends is
that speed range varies from 20 to 80 km per hour. In evaluated at fully opened throttle condition. BSEC is considered

Figure 7. Comparison of the engine performance and specific energy consumption as a function of the speed with different fuel blends obtained in three tests.

as a parameter to evaluate the fuel efficiency characteristic of
an internal combustion engine as there are dissimilarities
between fuel blends. As clearly presented in Table 2, the
lower heating value of test fuels is 44 MJ/kg for pure fossil
fuel, 39.4 MJ/kg for E25, 35.1 MJ/kg for E50, 30.9 MJ/kg for
E75, and 26.8 MJ/kg for pure ethanol. As the lower heating
value of pure ethanol is remarkably lower than that of pure
gasoline, the mass of fuel consumed by the engine fueled with
ethanol is higher than the case of fueling with pure gasoline.
Fuel consumption values of the test motorcycle are lowest with
a small percentage of biofuel in blend and gradually grow as
the ethanol content in the fuel mixture increases. Nevertheless,
the average BSEC value in the case of fueling with gasoline-
ethanol fuel blends decreases remarkably up to 17.9% com-
pared to the case of fueling with pure gasoline. Since the pure
ethanol fuel consists of 35% of oxygen atoms by weight, these
oxygen atoms play a major part in the enhancement of diffu-
sion combustion process, which results in higher energy con-
version. Particularly, as the throttle is at the fully opened
position, the oxygen element in the fuel blend could be an
additive for the better burning process.
3.2. Comparisons of exhaust emissions
The major toxic emissions from spark-ignition engines in
motorcycles include CO, NOx and HC (Mourad and Mahmoud
2018; Ozsezen and Canakci 2011; Abrantes et al. 2009). In
general, the unburned hydrocarbon from a spark-ignition
engine has different sources, which were clearly presented in
the research of D’Errico et al. (2002). Firstly, an amount of air
and fuel mixture comes into the crevice volumes and is not
burned since the flame quenches at the entrance. Secondly,
fuel vapor is absorbed into the oil layer and deposits on the
cylinder liner through the intake and compression strokes.
Thirdly, quench layers on the combustion chamber wall,
which are left as the flame extinguishes prior to reaching the
walls. The fourth, occasional partial burning or complete misfire
occurring when combustion quality is poor and the fifth, direct
flow of fuel and air mixture into the exhaust system during
valve overlap. Meanwhile, nitrogen oxides, popularly known as
NOx are results of nitrogen oxidation reactions with oxygen
atoms under high in-cylinder pressure and temperature condi-
tions. The mono carbonic emission results from incomplete
burning process especially at full load conditions while the
ratio of fuel to air is rich (Niven 2005; Knapp, Stump, and
Tejada 1998).
In this experiment, the above pollutants have been mea-
sured following to steady state and the experimental results are
shown in Figure 8. Generally, NOx emissions of the motorcycle
fueled by flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol are less than those of
motorcycle fueled by pure gasoline. As described above, with
low ethanol content, the combustion process is improved, and
then NOx tends to increase. It is clearly seen on the line chart
when using fuel blend with the rate of 25% ethanol (E25), the
NOx emissions increase slightly. However, the NOx emission
falls remarkably when the ratio of ethanol in the fuel blends
increases. The NOx results of the test motorcycle in the case of
fueling with pure biofuel (E100) decreased 25% in comparison
with the case of fueling with pure fossil fuel (E0), on average.
JOURNAL OF THE CHINESE INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS 9
The results can be specified that the lower heating value of fuel
blends will be decreased as the proportion of ethanol in blend
increases; however, the latent heat of vaporization will increase
in the opposite trend, leading to lower temperature of charge
mixture. All these above result in reduction of in-cylinder tem-
perature, which affects thermal NOx formation process.
The CO and HC emissions are also found to be lower in the
case of fueling with blends in comparison with the case of
fueling with pure gasoline. The HC emission is found to be
lowest for flex-fuel blends with low ethanol content. HC
emission improves most when having a low proportion of
biofuel in the blend (E25) and this emission increases as the
ratio of ethanol in the fuel blends increases. In the case of
operating on pure ethanol, the HC emission level is the same
as the case of using pure gasoline. Similarly, when the ratio of
ethanol in fuel blend is low, the fuel is best burned, as
a result, not only the HC emission but the CO emission also
decreases sharply. The reduction in CO pollutant when oper-
ating on gasoline-ethanol blends in comparison with pure
gasoline could be the result of the low C/H ratio of ethanol,
which will improve the oxidation reactions between C and
O atoms in the burning process, especially in fuel-rich condi-
tion, resulting in the complete combustion process. The com-
bustion becomes gradually inefficient when the ratio of
ethanol goes up due to higher value of latent heat of vapor-
ization of ethanol.
4. Conclusions
In this experimental study, an evaluation test on the performance
and exhaust emissions of currently used carburetor motorcycles
fueled with flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol has been conducted. The
old carburetor system of the test motorcycle has been rebuilt so
that the engine can flexibly run on any gasoline-ethanol blend.
The study results show that, when operating on a low proportion
of ethanol in the fuel blends, the combustion process of the test
engine is complete because of the existence of oxygen atoms in
the fuel blends. Consequently, NOx emissions increase and HC
and CO emissions decrease remarkably. However, a higher pro-
portion of biofuel in the blend will reduce the lower heating
value and increase the vaporization energy, as a result, the
temperature of air and fuel mixture will decrease, thereby the
reduction of in-cylinder temperature, leading to the reduction in
NOx level. In addition, operating on flex-fuel blends can contri-
bute to the reduction of CO emission because of the low C/H
ratio. Similarly, HC emission improves when having a low propor-
tion of bio-ethanol in fuel blend and increases as the ratio of
ethanol grows. In general, using flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol can
contribute to the reduction of gaseous emissions from the test
motorcycle. The measured brake power of the selected motor-
cycle when fueling with gasoline-ethanol blends has a similar
trend as the case of using pure gasoline. Especially, with a low
content of ethanol in blends, the power increases in comparison
with the case of using fossil fuel because of combustion process
improvement. The experimental result of BSEC of the selected
motorcycle fueling with fuel blends reduces dramatically, up to
17.9%, compared to that of fossil fuel for the reason of the
oxygen contents in ethanol, which play an important role in
improving the combustion process, especially at full load
10 T. DINH ET AL.

Figure 8. Comparison of average HC emission as a function of motorcycle speed with different fuel blend at fully opened throttle emissions obtained in three tests, (a)
NOx, (b) CO, and (c) HC.

condition. The selected motorcycle also operates stably with the
new fuel supply system at various ethanol percentages in the
fuel blends. The newly designed fuel supply system is the foun-
dation that can be used as a helpful reference for other similar
experimental activities in the field of spark-ignition engines
fueled with flex-fuel gasoline-ethanol. The results of this research
are an effective solution for widely applying bio-ethanol as
a potential energy resource to replace the conventional fossil
fuel in old generation carburetor motorcycles in Vietnam, to deal
with the energy crisis and environmental problems. However,
the durability and long-life of the engine fueled by blends are
also among the problems when changing the fuel system.
 JOURNAL OF THE CHINESE INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS 11

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