The Performance and Electricity Cost of Generator Engine  Using Ethanol-Methanol Blend

Ridwan; Suyitno; Zainal Arifin

Authors

Ridwan Mechanical Engineering Department, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia
Suyitno Mechanical Engineering Department, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia
Zainal Arifin Mechanical Engineering Department, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia

Keywords:

Ethanol, methanol, electricity generation, internal combustion engine

Abstract

Ethanol is an example of renewable energy; however, its price is still expensive. The blend of ethanol and cheaper methanol is interesting to study for electricity generation. The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of generator engine and the electricity cost by using the ethanol-methanol blend fuel. The study was carried out experimentally in the generator set with a capacity of 3000 W where the electricity load was varied from 100 W to 3000 W. The result shows that the highest efficiency of generator engine is 26.33% at 2500 W load @ 2930 rpm and the lowest specific fuel consumption is 0.778 kg/kWh at 2500 W load @2930 rpm. At the highest efficiency, the cost of electricity is 18,945 IDR/kWh or 1.34 USD/kWh. Furthermore, it is interesting to further study the enhancing strategy for efficiency and the reducing cost of the electricity generation.