TITLE:
Isopropanol as Fuel for Small Unmanned Aircraft
AUTHORS:
Chung-How Poh, Chung-Kiak Poh
KEYWORDS:
Isopropanol, Spark Ignition Engine, Small Unmanned Aircraft
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Aerospace Science and Technology,
Vol.2 No.3,
August
28,
2017
ABSTRACT: Gasoline engines are increasingly popular for use in small unmanned aircraft
requiring endurance due to the specific energy of gasoline (47.3 MJ·kg-1) and
its cost effectiveness. However, gasoline is volatile and it poses a health hazard.
In this work, isopropanol is proposed and investigated as viable fuel for
small gasoline engines. Isooctane is used as a benchmark for performance
comparison. The field testing reveals that isopropanol offers similar running
performance and ease of starting. The maximum output power of isopropanol
is surprisingly found to occur at a more advanced ignition timing compared
with isooctane. The significant outcome of this study is that isopropanol can
readily be used as a replacement fuel for existing engines without the need for
any modifications to the ignition module or the engine itself.