Effectiveness of Hydrogen and Nanoparticles Addition in Eucalyptus Biofuel for Improving the Performance and Reduction of Emission in CI Engine

Abstract

Eucalyptus biodiesel (EB) powered CI engine was characterized by low brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and more smoke emission. The inherent oxygen content of nanoparticles could be added with EB leading to improve the oxidation of hydrocarbon that results in low smoke emission. The present study was initially carried out on a compression ignition engine powered by EB considered as reference fuel. Further, this experiment was assessed with the same modified CI engine fuelled with hydrogen enrichment in EB blends. The high energy density of hydrogen may results better combustion efficiency and drastically reduce global emissions. The hydrogen flow rate was fixed at 5 lpm throughout engine operation for enrichment of air. In this experiment, the different combination of fuel blends were used such as Eucalyptus biodiesel 15% + diesel 85% (EB15), neat Eucalyptus biodiesel 100% (EB100), Eucalyptus biodiesel 15% + diesel 85% + Alumina nanoparticle 50 ppm (EB15-A), Eucalyptus biodiesel 15% + diesel 85% + Alumina nanoparticle (Al2O3) 50 ppm + hydrogen enrichment (EB15-A-H), neat Eucalyptus biodiesel 100% + Al2O3 50 ppm (EB100-A), neat Eucalyptus biodiesel 100% + Al2O3 50 ppm + hydrogen enrichment (EB100-A-H). The results indicated that EB15-A-H showed 6.6% increase in the thermal efficiency whereas it was 2.5% lower fuel consumption as compared to diesel operation. EB100 powered CI engine indicated 17% lower combustion efficiency as compared to diesel in CI mode. The results also showed that the emission value of CO, HC, and smoke for fuel EB15-A-H were 9.5%, 12.6%, and 15.9% lower when compared to neat diesel in CI mode operation. However, the emission of NOx was slightly higher for the fuel EB15-A-H than other blends. Overall, it was concluded that EB15-A-H as a potential alternative fuel for CI engine application. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.