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The goal of the present work was to analyze the performance of a spark ignition engine fueled by ethanol steam reforming products. The highest reformer-ICE system efficiency and the lowest CO emissions were achieved with the ethanol steam reforming products obtained at reaction temperature of 1000K and water/ethanol ratio of 1.8. Fueling the SI engine with reformate gas made it possible to achieve the reformer-ICE system efficiency of 40% for the engine fed by SRE products compared with 34% for gasoline and 36% for ethanol. CO emissions were reduced by 3.5 and 10 times compared with ethanol and gasoline, respectively. NO emissions were decreased by about 4 times compared with the gasoline-fed engine.

A comparative theoretical analysis of the spark ignition (SI) engine performance is performed for the cases of feeding it by the reforming products of two different alcohols: ethanol and methanol. Energy efficiency of the steam reforming process, optimal reactor temperature and obtainable compositions of the reforming products are showed and analyzed for the considered two fuel types. Three compositions of the reforming products: ethanol steam reforming (SRE), methanol steam reforming (SRM) and products of the low-temperature ethanol reforming are considered as gaseous fuels in the engine performance simulations. Change in the fuel burning velocity as a function of fuel composition and air excess factor is taken into account in a modeling of the heat release process.