Nanoparticles As Additive in Biodiesel On The Work
Nanoparticles As Additive in Biodiesel On The Work
Nanoparticles As Additive in Biodiesel On The Work
Mechanical Engineering
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: This experimental work investigates the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of a sin-
Received 4 January 2016 gle cylinder direct injection (DI) diesel engine with three fuel series: biodiesel–diesel (B20), biodiesel–die
Revised 12 April 2017 sel–nanoparticles (B20A30C30) and biodiesel–nanoparticles (B100A30C30). The nanoparticles such as
Accepted 23 April 2017
Alumina (Al2O3) and Cerium oxide (CeO2) of each 30 ppm are mixed with the fuel blends by means of
Available online xxxx
an ultrasonicator, to attain uniform suspension. Owing to the higher surface area/volume ratio character-
istics of nanoparticles, the degree of mixing and chemical reactivity are enhanced during the combustion,
Keywords:
attaining better performance, combustion and emission attributes of the diesel engine. The brake thermal
Alumina
Cerium oxide
efficiency of the engine for the nanoparticles dispersed test fuel (B20A30C30) significantly improved by
Nanoparticles dispersed test fuels 12%, succeeded by 30% reduction in NO emission, 60% reduction in carbon monoxide emission, 44%
NO reduction in hydrocarbon emission and 38% reduction in smoke emission, compared to that of B100.
Ó 2017 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Ain Shams University. This is an open access
article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2017.04.004
2090-4479/Ó 2017 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Ain Shams University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Please cite this article in press as: Prabu A. Nanoparticles as additive in biodiesel on the working characteristics of a DI diesel engine. Ain Shams Eng J
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2017.04.004
2 A. Prabu / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
Nomenclature
as a bridging medium for the preparation of Jatropha emulsion test are compared with the data from the Joint Committee on Powder
fuel. Based on the results, they found enhanced brake thermal effi- Diffraction Standards (JCPDS). The characteristics studies of
ciency percentage of 15% with significant NO reduction percentage nanoparticles is shown in Fig. 1.
of 29%. The same team [16] evaluated the effect of alumina For this experimental investigation, three types of test fuels are
nanoparticles as additives in the water diesel emulsion fuel, on prepared, denoted as BxAyCy (x means volume fraction and y
the working characteristics of a diesel engine at a constant speed means ppm). They are: B20 (containing 20% biodiesel and 80% die-
of 1500 rpm and found significant reduction of UBHC, NO and CO sel in volume percentage), B100A30C30 (containing 100% biodiesel
emissions for the alumina nanoparticles dispersed water diesel in volume percentage, 30 ppm Alumina, and 30 ppm Cerium
emulsion fuel compared to the neat water diesel emulsion fuel. oxide), and B20A30C30 (containing 20% biodiesel and 80% diesel
Recently Prabu and Anand, [6] conducted experiments by in volume percentage, 30 ppm Alumina, and 30 ppm Cerium
blending two nanoparticles alumina and cerium oxide of each oxide). Dispersion of nanoparticles with fuels is prepared by using
30 ppm in Jatropha biodiesel as separate and combined addition an apparatus called Ultrasonicator (Fig. 2) for 45 min to prepare
as fuel in a single cylinder DI diesel engine and observed promi- the homogeneous B100A30C30 and B20A30C30 test fuels. The pre-
nent percentage reduction of NO, CO, UBHC and smoke emission pared test fuels are subjected to the stability investigation; kept in
by 13, 60, 33 and 32% respectively. Though, very few studies have a 100 ml graduated scale glass test tube under static conditions
been carried out for the nanoparticles as additive in biodiesel, the and found stable for 12 h. The physicochemical properties for the
experimental investigations on engine performance and emission diesel, B100, B20, B100A30C30 and B20A30C30 test fuels are tested
characteristics for two nanoparticles as additives in Jatropha bio- as per ASTM standards and are listed in Table 2.
diesel blends was limited. In view of this, the present paper mainly
committed to a comparison of performance and emission charac- 2.2. Experimental setup and operating conditions
teristics of a single cylinder DI diesel engine fueled with two
nanoparticles dispersed biodiesel and biodiesel blend. In this study, a single cylinder, four-stroke DI diesel engine is
employed for determining the performance, combustion and emis-
2. Experimental setup and procedure sion characteristics of the engine with the detailed specifications of
engine test rig listed in Table 3. Diesel engine is coupled with an
2.1. Preparation of test fuels electrical loading device (AC alternator) for loading and the engine
exhaust gas temperature is measured using calibrated K-type ther-
In this research work, commercially available Jatropha biodiesel mocouple placed immediate exhaust of the diesel engine. The
(B100) (Supplier: M/s. Ahimsa Agri (P) Ltd., Chennai, India) and die- engine setup has two fuel tanks: One fuel tank is meant for diesel
sel fuel are employed. The fuel properties for all the test fuels are fuel and the other for biodiesel, connected to 50 cm3 standard glass
verified before they are subjected for the engine experimental burette and the volumetric fuel flow rate is measured using a dig-
investigations. Nanoparticles such as Alumina and Cerium oxide ital stop watch. The setup consists of data acquisition system that
are purchased from Alfa Aesar and Sigma Aldrich Company respec- comprises piezoelectric pressure sensor and a crank-angle indica-
tively and the specifications of nanoparticles are listed in Table 1. tor for measuring the combustion characteristics of the engine.
The morphology of the nanoparticles is determined by Scanning The pressure transducer is used to measure the cylinder pressure,
Electron Microscope (Model: VEGA3 TESCAN, Czech Republic). heat release rate, and ignition delay for 50 successive cycles those
The crystalline phase of nanoparticles are determined by X-ray are averaged and calculated by amplifying the output signal of the
Diffraction (Model: Rigaku, Ultima IV, Japan) and the intensities pressure transducer connected to the data acquisition system. The
level of exhaust gas emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO),
unburned hydrocarbon (UBHC) and nitric oxide (NO) are measured
Table 1
by using AVL Digas 444 exhaust gas analyzer and the smoke opac-
Specification of nanoparticles.
ity is measured by using AVL 437 Smoke meter.
Item Specification The experiments are conducted in a single cylinder DI diesel
Manufacturer M/s. Alfa Aesar, M/s. Sigma Aldrich, engine operated at constant speed of 1500 rpm, with fixed injec-
USA USA tion pressure of 216 bar and fixed injection timing of 26° bTDC.
Chemical Name Alumina (Al2O3) Cerium Oxide (CeO2) The schematic view of the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 3.
CAS No 1344-28-1 1306-38-3
Molecular Weight 101.96 172.11
Engine is started under no load condition; allowed to warm up
Average particle size 51 nm 32 nm for the rated speed of 1500 rpm and all the readings are taken
diameter under steady state conditions. Engine performance parameters
Specific surface area 32 m2/g 30 m2/g such as brake thermal efficiency and the emission parameters such
Appearance White Yellow
as NO, EGT, CO, UBHC and smoke opacity are quantified and the
Please cite this article in press as: Prabu A. Nanoparticles as additive in biodiesel on the working characteristics of a DI diesel engine. Ain Shams Eng J
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2017.04.004
A. Prabu / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx 3
Table 2
Properties of test fuels.
Please cite this article in press as: Prabu A. Nanoparticles as additive in biodiesel on the working characteristics of a DI diesel engine. Ain Shams Eng J
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2017.04.004
4 A. Prabu / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
Table 3
Specification of diesel engine.
Make Kirloskar
Type Single cylinder, four stroke, air cooled,
Direct injection engine
Bore Stroke 87.5 110 mm
Compression ratio 17.5:1
Swept volume 661 cm3
Combustion chamber Open hemispherical
Spray hole diameter 0.25 mm
Cone angle 110°
Rated output 4.4 kW at 1500 rpm
Injection timing 26° bTDC
Please cite this article in press as: Prabu A. Nanoparticles as additive in biodiesel on the working characteristics of a DI diesel engine. Ain Shams Eng J
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2017.04.004
A. Prabu / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx 5
Please cite this article in press as: Prabu A. Nanoparticles as additive in biodiesel on the working characteristics of a DI diesel engine. Ain Shams Eng J
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2017.04.004
6 A. Prabu / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
Figure 11. Variations of smoke opacity under bmep. Figure 13. Variations of ignition delay under bmep.
Please cite this article in press as: Prabu A. Nanoparticles as additive in biodiesel on the working characteristics of a DI diesel engine. Ain Shams Eng J
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2017.04.004
A. Prabu / Ain Shams Engineering Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx 7
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Please cite this article in press as: Prabu A. Nanoparticles as additive in biodiesel on the working characteristics of a DI diesel engine. Ain Shams Eng J
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2017.04.004