EFFECTS OF CERIUM OXIDE NANOPARTICLE ADDITION IN DIESEL AND DIESEL-BIODIESEL-ETHANOL BLENDS ON THE PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF A CI ENGINE

Abstract

An experimental investigation is carried out to establish the performance and emission characteristics of a compression ignition engine while using cerium oxide nanoparticles as additive in neat diesel and diesel-biodiesel-ethanol blends. In the first phase of the experiments, stability of neat diesel and diesel-biodiesel-ethanol fuel blends with the addition of cerium oxide nanoparticles are analyzed. After series of experiments, it is found that the blends subjected to high speed blending followed by ultrasonic bath stabilization improves the stability. The phase separation between diesel and ethanol is prevented using vegetable methyl ester (Biodiesel) prepared from the castor oil through transesterification process. In the second phase, performance characteristics are studied using the stable fuel blends in a single cylinder four stroke computerised variable compression ratio engine coupled with an eddy current dynamometer and a data acquisition system. The cerium oxide acts as an oxygen donating catalyst and provides oxygen for the oxidation of CO or absorbs oxygen for the reduction of NOx. The activation energy of cerium oxide acts to burn off carbon deposits within the engine cylinder at the wall temperature and prevents the deposition of non-polar compounds on the cylinder wall results reduction in HC emissions. The tests revealed that cerium oxide nanoparticles can be used as additive in diesel and diesel-biodieselethanol blend to improve complete combustion of the fuel and reduce the exhaust emissions significantly.