Elsevier

Energy

Volume 215, Part B, 15 January 2021, 119091
Energy

Influence of Al2O3nano additives in ternary fuel (diesel-biodiesel-ethanol) blends operated in a single cylinder diesel engine: Performance, combustion and emission characteristics

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.119091Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Influence of alumina nano additives on ternary fuel.

  • Alumina blended ternary fuel resulted in higher BTE and lowered BSEC.

  • Emissions like HC, CO, NOx and smoke were lowered with alumina addition.

  • Cylinder pressure, HRR and CHRR were higher for alumina blended ternary fuel.

  • 20 ppm alumina addition resulted in improved performance and minimized emissions.

Abstract

The present work is dedicated to the experimental analysis on the influence of fuel borne additives on ternary fuel blend operated in a single cylinder DI diesel engine. Alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles were chosen as fuel additives at dosing levels of 10 ppm, 20 ppm and 30 ppm respectively and the ternary fuel (TF) is prepared by blending 70% diesel, 20%Jatropha biodiesel and 10% ethanol. Performance characteristics like brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and brake specific energy consumption (BSEC), emission characteristics like HC, CO, NOx and smoke along with combustion characteristics like cylinder pressure, HRR (Heat release rate) and CHRR (Cumulative heat release rate) were considered for analysis. Based on experimentation, it is observed that, TF blended with 20 ppm alumina nano additive (TF20) resulted in higher BTE and lowered BSEC by 7.8% and 4.93%, lowered HC, CO, NOx and smoke emissions by 5.69%, 11.24%, 9.39% and 6.48% in comparison with TF. Moreover, TF20 resulted in higher cylinder pressure, HRR and CHRR of about 72.67 bar, 76.22 J/oCA and 1171.1 J respectively which are higher than diesel and TF. Hence, it is concluded that addition of 20 ppm alumina nano additive in TF can enhance the engine performance and combustion as well as lower the exhaust pollutants simultaneously.

Introduction

In recent years, ternary fuel (diesel + biodiesel + ethanol) blends have gained rapid momentum owing to its potential in replacing the fossil fuels completely. Ethanol when blended with diesel becomes a hygroscopic mixture reported by Fang et al. [1] i.e. attraction towards water molecules, which affects the fuel injector in long run due to stratification. Use of biodiesel in diesel-ethanol blend resulted in absence of stratification. This idea opened a new tri-fuel mixture pattern called biodiesel-alcohol-diesel fuel mixture. Numerous works were reported with diesel-biodiesel-ethanol fuel blends for diesel engine applications Lin et al. [2]. developed the optimized model for the diesel-ethanol –biodiesel fuel blends. They analyzed the various fuel blends to enhance the system profitability by given production costs and fuel prices to met the multiple fuel property criteria like heating value, kinematic viscosity, cetane number and fuel stability Venu and Madhavan [3,4]. explored the effect of fuel additives on the various characteristics of diesel engine operated with ternary blends prepared from biodiesel-ethanol- diesel fuels. They reported that the use of nano additives to the ternary blend had shown improved performance parameters of the diesel engine. However, they also noticed more particulate formation with the use of nano particles blended fuels. Similar reports are presented by Qi et al. [5] and Fang et al. [1] about the use of the diesel-ethanol-biodiesel fuel blends for diesel engines. They found significant reductions in oxides of nitrogen emissions with the ternary blends when compared to the diesel fuel at all load conditions.

Yesilyurt and Aydin [6] examined the effect of diethyl ether with cottonseed oil on the performance characteristics of diesel engine at different load conditions. They were added the DEE to the 20% cotton seed biodiesel blend at different concentrations such as 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10% on volume basis. They found 17.39% reduction of BTE and 29.15% increment of BSFC with 10% DEE addition to the 20% cotton seed biodiesel blend. However, they noticed significant mitigations of exhaust emissions like 12.89%, 4.12% and 8.84% of HC, Smoke and NOX respectively when compared to diesel at full load.

Dogan et al. [7] investigated the characteristics of diesel engine with 1-heptanol as an oxygenated fuel. They studied various aspects such as energy, exergy, exergoeconomic, enviroeconomic and sustainability analyses. I-heptanol was added at 5%, 10% and 20% on volume basis to the diesel fuel. Test results were revealed that specific fuel consumption was higher for 20% 1-heptanol blend of 0.221 kg.kWh. They also observed that exergy destruction was higher for the 1-heptanol blends than diesel at all load conditions. The maximum exergy destruction was found for HP20 blend of 3.08 kW at 25% full load.

Yesilyurt et al.[9] have studied the binary blends of diesel-safflower and ternary blends of diesel-pentanol-biodiesel on the diverse characteristics of diesel engine. They found greater reduction in BTE and more increment in BSFC with ternary fuel blends. Further, the addition of pentanol concentration has shown significant reductions in NOX emissions. Also, the use of pentanol reduces the exhaust emissions like CO, HC and smoke at all load operations.

Yesilyurt [[6]] have performed tests on diesel engine with waste cooking oil biodiesel-diesel blends at different fuel injection pressures. Tests were conducted at six fuel injection pressures like 170 bar, 180 bar, 190 bar, 200 bar, 210 bar and 220 bar. The author found increased brake thermal efficiency with increase in fuel injection pressure up to 210 bar. Also, exhaust emissions like CO and Smoke were reduced at greater level at all load conditions.

Yesilyurt et al. [9] investigated the quaternary fuel blends of alcohol-biodiesel-vegetable oil-diesel fuel on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of the diesel engine. They have selected safflower as biodiesel and different alcohols like ethanol, isopropanol, n-butanol were chosen apart from the base diesel fuel and safflower oil as vegetable oil. From their test results, they recommended the use of quaternary fuel blends for future diesel engine applications.

Yesilyurt and Arslan [10] have analyzed the effect of fuel injection pressures on the energy and exergy characteristics of diesel engine powered with waste cooking and canola biodiesels. They found maximum energy and exergy efficiencies of 24.5% and 21.27% respectively with diesel fuel at 190 bar. Whereas maximum energy and exergy efficiencies were found as 22.12% and 20.05% respectively with biodiesel at fuel injection pressure of 210 bar. Furthermore, the exergy destruction values of the diesel engine were found to be between 58.9% and 62.79% for biodiesel.

Chokalingam et al. [11] examined the effective application of ethanol for diesel engines. The blends of ethanol-diesel were stabilized by the tetra methyl ammonium bromide as an additive. They reported 10% addition of ethanol have shown nearly equivalent performance when compared to diesel fuel. Sandalc1 et al. [12] studied the effect of ethanol on the characteristics of the diesel engine when operated with diesel fuel at two levels such as 15% and 30% on volume basis. They found ethanol-diesel blends were highly stable and no phase separation. Also, they noticed remarkable reductions in NOX and smoke emissions when compared to the diesel fuel at all load conditions. However, they were reported that a precise engine optimization was highly needed to drastic reduction of emissions while maintaining acceptable engine performance Nour et al. [13]. examined the effect of alumina nanoparticles at various concentrations such as 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg/l into diesterol blended fuel (10% Jojoba biodiesel+ 20% ethanol +70% diesel) on the exploitation of diesel engine characteristics. They observed greater reduction in oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbon emissions at dose level of 25 mg/l when compared to the other additions of nanoparticles, but significant enhancement in peak cylinder pressure and considerable reduction in specific fuel consumption was found for 75 mg/l Rakopous et al. [14]. evaluated the effect of ethanol at two levels with the diesel fuel at 5% and 10% (by vol.) concentrations. They reported that 10% of ethanol blend with diesel fuel have shown promising engine performance and emission characteristics when compared to the 5% blend of ethanol-diesel fuel.

Hulwan et al. [15] examined the feasibility of higher ethanol concentrations in diesel/ethanol blends. They conducted experiments on 4 blends namely D70/E20/B10 (“A” blend), D50/E/30/B20 (“B” blend), D50/E40/B10 (“C” blend) and standard diesel fuel (D). Experiments were performed on multi-cylinder diesel engine with injection timing (IT) of 13degbTDC. Initially at this IT, blends B and C, the engine do not run and hence the IT was advanced to 18degbTDC and 21degbTDC. With advanced IT, NOx emissions increased significantly. At lower loads, CO increased and at higher loads. Smoke opacity reduced for blends B and C, in comparison with Barabas et al. [16] experimental in a 4 cylinder diesel engine with diesel/biodiesel/bio-ethanol blend and analyzed the performance and emissions characteristics. They observed that, at lower engine loads, with the above blend there is a drop in performance due to lowered heating value of the blend. HC and CO emissions were decreasing for BDE blend while NOx and CO2 emission increases due to higher O2 content of the blend Yilmaz et al. [17]. investigated the emissions in BDE blend with ethanol concentration varying in steps of 3%, 5%, 15% and 25%. They identified that varying ethanol concentration played a significant effect in varying emission strategies due to cooling effect and oxygen content of ethanol in blends. They found that ethanol concentration in BDE lowered the CO and HC emission but increased the NOx emissions. HC emissions were load dependent of higher ethanol concentrations. Till 50% load, HC emissions were reduced, while lower ethanol concentrations lowered the HC emissions up to 70% engine load condition Li et al. [18]. experimented on ternary blends based on diesel/biodiesel/pentanol blends with compositions of 40/30/30 in a constant speed diesel engine (1600 rpm). Results indicated that with pentanol addition in diesel blends the following were observed. i) Improved fuel-air mixing rate ii) higher indicated thermal efficiency iii) lowered soot emissions iv) lowered NOx emissions (in par with diesel NOx).

Charoensaegn et al. [19] studied the engine tailpipe emissions from the diesel engine fuelled with ethanol-diesel-palm biodiesel blends. From their test results, they reported that the prepared micro emulsion biofuels have shown increased specific fuel consumption and significantly reduced the NOX emissions. Overall, they concluded that micro emulsion fuels can be used as an eco-friendly alternative in agriculture diesel engines Ghadikolaei et al. [20]. analyzed the chemical properties and particulate matter formation from the diesel engine operated with ternary fuels such as (diesel-biodiesel-ethanol) at different loading conditions. They recommended the use of ternary or blended mode of fuel for diesel engine applications due to positive effect on diesel particulate filter efficiency and they found diesel particulate matter of 85.8%; ions of 1.9% and metal elements of 0.7% Soudagar et al. [21]. reviewed the influence of nano additives on the stability, performance, combustion and emission characteristics of the diesel-biodiesel fuelled diesel engine. From the literature, They summarized the various research findings on nano additives and concluded that the addition of nanoparticles have demonstrated superior improvement in thermophysical properties, increment in heat transfer rate and stabilization of fuel/air mixture results in significant enhancement in engine performance and greater reduction in engine tailpipe emissions. They suggest o develop the economical and sustainable nano additives for the future automobile industry Datta and Mandal [22]. explored the feasibility and viability of jathropha biodiesel as one of the better partial replacement for the diesel fuel. They have keenly examined the strengths, weakness, opportunities and challenges of jatropha biodiesel in Indian scenario as well as economics of biodiesel production and its utilization aspects. They were suggested that development of definite biodiesel policy and its perfect implementation by the government of India may enhance the use of jatropha biodiesel for diesel engine applications Chen et al. [23]. studied the influence of three nanoparticles namely silicon oxide, alumina oxide and carbon nanotubes as fuel catalysts for the augmentation of combustion, performance and emission characteristics of the diesel engine. They used these nanoparticles at different levels like 25 ppm, 50 ppm and 100 ppm with the diesel fuel and also they have done the ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometer for stability analysis of the nanoparticle blended diesel fuel. They noticed better stability for the silicon oxide and alumina oxide. However, the carbon nanotubes were least stable. They concluded that use of nanoparticles have shown significant reductions in NOX emissions.

Ramesh et al. [24] explored the viability of the poultry litter biodiesel as an alternative fuel for diesel in diesel engines. They have tested 20% poultry litter biodiesel along with 30 mg/l of alumina nanoparticle as fuel additive. They found greater reductions in hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide oxides of nitrogen emissions by the addition of nanoparticles when compared to the biodiesel blend without nanoparticles. Nour et al. [13] examined the effect of alumina nanoparticles at various concentrations such as 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg/l into diesterol blended fuel (10% Jojoba biodiesel+ 20% ethanol +70% diesel) on the exploitation of diesel engine characteristics. They observed greater reduction in oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbon emissions at dose level of 25 mg/l when compared to the other additions of nanoparticles, but significant enhancement in peak cylinder pressure and considerable reduction in specific fuel consumption was found for 75 mg/l. They suggested the dose level of 75 mg/l alumina nanoparticle addition had the overall improvement of the characteristics of the diesel engine Wu et al. [25]. investigated the influence of carbon coated aluminum nanoparticles as fuel catalysts for the biodiesel-diesel blends on the performance and emission characteristics of the diesel engine. The test results revealed that the dispersion nanoparticles have shown 14.5% reduction of hydrocarbon emissions, 6% reduction of brake specific fuel consumption and 10% reduction of carbon monoxide when compared to the 10% biodiesel blend El- Seessy et al. [26]. studied the influence of aluminum oxide nanoparticles on the characteristics of the diesel engine powered with 20% jojoba methyl ester-diesel blend at different loading conditions. They used the Al2O3nanoparticle at various concentrations of 10 mg/l, 20 mg/l, 30 mg/l, 40 mg/l and 50 mg/l to the 20% biodiesel blend by the use of ultrasonic stabilization. They found promising results for 20 mg/l additions to the biodiesel blend which revealed a significant reduction in exhaust emissions such as 60%by CO, 80% by HC and 70% by NOX at full load.

Addition of nano additives leads to improved engine performance due to its catalytic properties Selvan et al. [27]. analyzed the influence of cerium oxide nano additive in diesel-biodiesel-ethanol blends. They blended 25 ppm cerium oxide nano additives which are at range of 32 nm with D70C10E20 blend (70%Diesel +10%Biodiesel+20%Ethanol). They observed that the fuel consumption is increased and BTE is decreased of the ternary blends in comparison with diesel fuel. They also found that, addition of cerium oxide lowered the heat release rate for ternary blends. With cerium oxide addition in ternary blends, they observed reported reductions in HC and CO emissionsin comparison with diesel fuel.

Shaafi and Velraj [28] experimentally investigated the effect of alumina nano particles (with dosing level of 100 mg/L) in binary blends (B20) and ternary blends (80%diesel +15%soybean biodiesel + 4% ethanol + 1% surfactant). The dosage level of alumina is kept constant and the surfactant used was isopropanol for preventing the phase separation. They found that, the cylinder pressure and HRR of alumina blended ternary fuel (D80SB15E4S1+alumina) showed higher cylinder pressure and HRR owing to higher surface area to volume ratio of alumina along with inherent oxygen present in soybean biodiesel which altogether makes rapid advances in combustion rate. The BSEC levels of B20 and D80SB15E4S1+alumina were higher than diesel fuel Venu et al. [29]. investigated the effect of alumina nano particles in ternary fuels (diesel-biodiesel-ethanol) blends at various injection timings. They observed that, the nano particle combustion was effective in retarded injection timing in lowering the harmful tailpipe emissions such as HC, CO, NOx and smoke emissions Venu et al. Venu et al. (2017). also found that nanoparticle addition in ternary fuel blend is superior to that of adding oxygenated additive such as diethyl ether in terms of improved performance and combustion characteristics.

Hosseini et al. [30,31] experimentally investigated the effect of alumina nano particles as catalysts to B5 (5% WCO biodiesel + 95%diesel) and B10 blend (10% WCO biodiesel + 90%diesel) operated in a single cylinder diesel engine. They chose the dosage levels of 30 ppm, 60 ppm and 90 ppm for both the test fuels and operated the test fuels at engine speeds of 1800, 2300 and 2800 rpm at full load condition. Test results indicates that, in comparison with diesel fuel, B10 blend with 90 ppm alumina nano additives (B10AL90) resulted in higher torque, power, BTE and EGT of 5.36%, 5.36%, 10.63% and 5.8% while lowered BSFC of 14.66%.

Sivakumar et al. Sivakumar et al. (2018) investigated the effect of 50 ppm and 100 ppm alumina nano additives for B25 (25% pongamia biodiesel+75% diesel) blend fuelled in a single cylinder diesel engine. They found that, B25A100 (100 ppm alumina doped in B25 blend) has 16.67% lowered BSFC and 8.36% higher BTE in comparison with B25 owing to pooled effect of physical ignition delay, higher evaporation rate, prolonged flame sustenance and higher flame temperatures of alumina nanoparticles Prabu et al. [32,33]. evaluated the combined effect of alumina and ceriua nano additives doped in jatropha biodiesel fuelled in a single cylinder diesel engine. The proposed dosage levels were 10 ppm; 30 ppm and 60 ppm where both nano additives share equal proportions (for instance 10 ppm doping indicates 5 ppm alumina+5 ppm ceria). They found that jatropha biodiesel blended with 60 ppm nano additives exhibits lowered BSFC of 0.293bkg/kWh and higher BTE of 31% which are closer to diesel fuel owing to higher surface area to volume ratio of nano additives improving the rate of combustion.

Jatropha is a renewable biological crop, and it maintains a closed carbon cycle. It is produced from the seeds of the Jatropha curcas, a plant that can grow in wastelands across India and the oil is considered to be an excellent source of bio-diesel. The cultivation of jatropha in waste land provide employment for the rural people of India. The oil content of jatropha varies from 35 to 40% of the seed mass. Ethanol is a renewable fuel source and it produces complete combustion. It is derived from the corn, sugarcane, and grain or indirectly from paper waste. The main issues with the jatropha are more viscosity and lesser heating value. Similarly, ethanol is a clean combustible fuel, but it has very low cetane number. In this context, in order to promote the use of biofuels and ethanol in diesel engine applications, Ternary fuel blend (diesel-biodiosel-ethanol) is prepared and all the physical and chemical properties are determined as per the ASTM standards and these properties of ternary blend is very close to the standard diesel fuel.

In fact, there is very limited technical literature has been existed on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics powered by ternary fuels for diesel engine applications. A very few studies were devoted to identify the optimum blending concentration of nano additives in the base fuel for achieving improved engine performance and lowered exhaust emissions. In addition, the improved fuel property of ternary fuel blends with nano additives can leverage the usage of renewable alternative energy sources such as bio-ethanol and bi-diesel in the lieu of increasing fossil fuel dependency and growing emission concerns. With this strategic conception, for the current study, experiments were conducted to analyze the performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of DF100 (100% diesel fuel), JB100 (100% Jatropha biodiesel), TF (diesel (70%) +biodiesel (20%) + ethanol (10%), TF10 (TF blended with10 ppm Al2O3 nano additives), TF20 (TFblended with 20 ppm Al2O3 nano additives) and TF30 (TF blended with 30 ppm Al2O3 nano additives). Therefore, the present study seeks to exploit the influence of nanopartcles in ternary blend at various concentrations in order to analyze diesel engine characteristics without any modification.

Section snippets

Jatropha biodiesel preparation

Jatropha biodiesel was produced using a 2L batch reactor, a magnetic stirrer, a condenser, a sampling outlet unit and a thermometer. Biodiesel preparation was carried out using acid-base catalyst procedure. Initially before starting esterification, the raw Jatropha curcas oil is heated up to 60 °C using a rotary evaporator in vacuum for moisture removal. For esterification, a mixture of 10:1 M ratio of methanol to raw oil and 1.5% (v/v) sulphuric acid (H2SO4) were treated with above preheated

Experimental setup

Experimentation is done on Kirloskar make, single cylinder four stoke diesel engine which is basically an agriculture application oriented engine. Hence, this type of engine is preferred for research work throughout the world with alternate fuels. The test engine develops an output power of 4.4 kW which operates at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. This direct injection naturally aspirated engine has an engine capacity of 661 cm3, bore and stroke of 87.5 mm and 110 mm along with 203 mm long

Combustion characteristics

Fig. 2 illustrates the variation of in-cylinder pressure for all the test fuels with respect to crank angle. As observed from the figure, the maximum cylinder pressure is observed for DF100 (74.4 bar), while the lowest cylinder pressure is obtained for JB100 (62.44 bar). The in-cylinder pressure is a function of fuel property (especially the viscosity and cetane number properties), as it profoundly influences the air-fuel interaction and combustion process. When the viscosity of fuel is lower

Conclusion

The current experimental work deals with the influence of alumina nanoparticle as a fuel borne additive for ternary fuel blend comprising biodiesel, diesel and ethanol. The key inferences were summarized from this proposed experimental research work as follows.

  • The suggested alternative ternary fuel (TF) comprised of 20%biodiesel+70%diesel+10%ethanol was shown higher BSEC and NOX emissions when compared with diesel.

  • TF20 blend has 7.8% higher BTE and 4.93% lowered BSEC in comparison with TF,

Credit author statement

Harish Venu: Novelty identification, Work flow development, Engine testing, Paper writing, Proof reading, Revision of paper, Grammatical correction. V. Dhana Raju: Engine testing, Paper writing, Proof reading, Revision of paper. S. Lingesan: Engine testing, Paper writing, Proof reading, Revision of paper. Manzoore Elahi M Soudagar: Engine testing, Paper writing, Proof reading, Revision of paper.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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