Title: Effects of nanoparticle-blended water–biodiesel emulsion fuel on working characteristics of a diesel engine

Authors: J. Sadhik Basha, R.B. Anand

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620 015, Tamil Nadu, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620 015, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: An experimental investigation is carried out to establish the performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a diesel engine using jatropha biodiesel, jatropha biodiesel emulsion fuel (5% of water, 93% of biodiesel, 2% of surfactants) and alumina-nanoparticles-blended jatropha biodiesel emulsion fuels. The nanoparticles are mixed with the biodiesel emulsion fuel in the mass fractions of 25 ppm and 50 ppm systematically. The experimental results revealed an enhancement in the performance and reduction in the harmful pollutants for the nanoparticles-blended biodiesel emulsion fuels when compared with the neat biodiesel. At the full load, the Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) for JBD2S5W50A fuel is 29%, whereas it is 24.9% for the neat biodiesel. However, there is a marginal increase in the greenhouse gas emission (viz., CO₂) for the JBD2S5W50A fuel than JBD2S5W fuel due to better combustion.

Keywords: jatropha biodiesel; biodiesel emulsion fuels; nanoparticles; diesel engines; alumina; biofuels; greenhouse gases; GHG emissions; carbon emissions; CO2 emissions; carbon dioxide; combustion; air pollution; global warming.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2010.037589

International Journal of Global Warming, 2010 Vol.2 No.4, pp.330 - 346

Published online: 19 Dec 2010 *

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