Effects of Alumina Nanoparticles Additives Into Jojoba Methyl Ester-Diesel Mixture on Diesel Engine Performance

Abstract

Currently, using biofuels to operate diesel engines gets a great attention to the extent that it could replace the limited conventional fossil fuels. These fuels have a closed life cycle (renewable) and they have a remarkable effect on the global greenhouse phenomena. Moreover, the use of non-edible vegetable oils is considered a good choice after a suitable chemical and/or thermal treatment to convert them into esters. The use of jojoba oil shows a promising alternative fuel for conventional diesel fuel even there were unfavorable effects including power reduction. The wide spread usage of nano additives to improve the combustion quality may be a good solution for these problems. This study represents an experimental investigation to examine the effect of nano additives on diesel engine performance at variable operating conditions of load and speed. In this work, alumina nano-particles are added to a mixture of jojoba methyl ester (biodiesel) and conventional diesel fuel at the most recommended value (20% biodiesel and 80% diesel fuel) with different doses from 10 up to 50 mg/l. The received mixture is homogenized with an ultrasonicator mixer. It is found that, the appropriate nano-additives dose corresponding to optimal engine performance is about 30 mg/l. At this dose, the overall BSFC is reduced by about 6%, engine thermal efficiency is increased up to 7%, and all engine emissions have been reduced (NOx about 70%, CO about 75 %, smoke opacity about 5%, and UHC about 55 %) compared with the corresponding values obtained when only a blended fuel of 20% biodiesel is used.