A Systematic Study on Performance and Emission Characteristics of CI Engine Using Microalgae Methyl Ester with Nano Additives

Abstract

India is looking at renewable alternative fuel sources to reduce its dependence on foreign crude oil. As India imports 80% of the oil it uses, it has been hit hard by increasing costs and uncertainty. In this study, microalgae biodiesel have been proposed as an alternative fuel for powering existing diesel engine. The present study is proposed to investigate experimentally, the performance and emission analysis of microalgae biodiesel in a stationary single-cylinder VCR diesel engine and compare it with diesel fuel. The microalgae biodiesel will be blended with the diesel fuel in different proportions. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE), brake power (BP), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), and brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) will be measured for different blends at a constant speed and various loads. Separate tests will be conducted for pure diesel and biodiesel blends. A comparative study will be carried out based on different performance and emission curves. Performance and emission analysis will be done for different blends with nanoparticles as additives and pure diesel at various loads and constant speed. The impact of nanoparticles blended microalgae biodiesel on the performance and emission of a diesel engine will be investigated. 10 %, 15%, and 20% Biodiesel with nanoparticles such as Al₂O₃, CuO, and CNT will be used as fuel for the experiment. This fuel will be examined with varying loads and the obtained results of performance and emission characteristics will be compared to that of 100% diesel. By doing a stagnant analysis it concludes that very few researchers have opened their eye towards the use of microalgae fuel with nano additives and tried its performance and emission analysis on a computerized setup