Ethanol as Fuel for Recreational Boats

Dartmouth College - Thayer School of Engineering

ENGS 190/ENGG 290 Project

9 March 2004

Group Members: Erik Dambach, Adam Han, Brian Henthorn

Advisor: Professor Charles Wyman

The purpose of the project was to examine the feasibility of introducing ethanol fuel to recreational boating applications. The state of the art was examined and compared findings to ethanol as a fuel. A 2000 5 hp four-stroke Mercury outboard engine was modified for ethanol compatibility, and an implementation strategy was developed for ethanol’s use in recreational boating. Gasoline was determined to have higher environmental and human toxicity than ethanol. A modification design was developed and the engine was successfully retrofitted for ethanol compatibility. The engine performance varied, in that power and fuel efficiency decreased as expected, and emissions were comparable to gasoline at the optimum modification setting.