Effects of alumina nanoparticles in waste chicken fat biodiesel on the operating characteristics of a compression ignition engine

Abstract

An experimental investigation was carried out to study the performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of a compression ignition (CI) engine fuelled with waste chicken fat biodiesel with alumina nanoparticles as an additive. The disposal of waste chicken creates environmental pollution, hence it is decided to extract oil from the waste chicken fat and produce biodiesel through transesterification process. As the chicken fat contains 13.6 % free fatty acid (FFA), a pre-treatment process was carried out using Ferric sulphate as a catalyst in order to reduce the FFA content less than 1 % to prevent soap formation during the process. Potassium hydroxide was used as catalysts for the effective conversion of triglycerides of waste chicken fat into methyl ester. Various diesel-biodiesel-alumina blends were prepared by varying the biodiesel proportions of 20 and 40 % by volume and 25 and 50 ppm of alumina nanoparticles to study its operating characteristics on a computerized single cylinder, constant speed CI engine. Aluminium oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles were used as fuel born catalyst in order to enhance the combustion characteristics and reduce the harmful emissions. The engine test results showed less improvement in brake thermal efficiency and significant reduction on the hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions. However, higher nitrogen oxide emissions were recorded due to the increase in combustion temperature as the nanoparticles enhanced the surface area to volume ratio which improves the thermal conductivity of the fuel blend resulted in improved combustion. Smoke reduction of 52.8 % was observed in B40 fuel blend with 50 ppm alumina nanoparticles under full load conditions. Keywords Alumina nanoparticles Á Waste chicken fat biodiesel Á Performance Á Combustion Á Engine exhaust emissions Abbreviations Al 2 O 3 Aluminium oxide B20Al25 Diesel 80 % ? Biodiesel 20 % ? Alumina nanoparticles 25 ppm B20Al50 Diesel 80 % ? Biodiesel 20 % ? Alumina nanoparticles 50 ppm B40Al25 Diesel 60 % ? Biodiesel 40 % ? Alumina nanoparticles 25 ppm B40Al50 Diesel 60 % ? Biodiesel 40 % ? Alumina nanoparticles 50 ppm bmep Brake mean effective pressure BSFC Brake specific fuel consumption BTE Brake thermal efficiency CI Compression ignition CNT Carbon nanotubes CO Carbon monoxide FFA Free fatty acid HC Hydrocarbon HRR Heat release rate ID Ignition delay NO x Nitrogen oxides PM Particulate matter ppm particles per million RoPR Rate of pressure raise TDC Top dead center WCF Waste chicken fat WCFME Waste chicken fat methyl ester

Influence of Nanoparticles on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of Diesel Engine Fuelled with Chicken Biodiesel

“…The added alumina nanoparticles result in lower BTE, BSFC and exhaust emissions compared to diesel. However, increase in NOX was noted with nanoparticles [14].…”

Effect of emulsion fuel on engine emissions–A review

“…The properties of fuel either physical or chemical have an impact on the gaseous and particulate emissions (Brondani et al 2015;Mohd and Wira 2010;Ng et al 2010;Jazair et al 2007;Gurusala and Arul 2015). The NO x and PM emissions are frequently controlled by fuel density.…”

Production of biodiesel from three indigenous feedstock: Optimization of process parameters and assessment of various fuel properties

“…Gurusala et al . had produced chicken fat methyl ester from high acid value (26.58 mg of KOH) chicken fat by pretreatment esterification with ferric sulphate acid catalyst followed by base‐catalyzed transesterification process. They measured fuel properties of synthesized CFOME which met ASTM standards.…”

“…Almeida et al [20] successfully synthesized ethyl biodiesel from chicken fat by using reaction parameters 10% V 2 O 5 / RHA catalyst at 2008C with 1:10 oil-to-ethanol molar ratio for 4 h reaction time, exhibiting 91% conversion to biodiesel. Gurusala et al [21] had produced chicken fat methyl ester from high acid value (26.58 mg of KOH) chicken fat by pretreatment esterification with ferric sulphate acid catalyst followed by base-catalyzed transesterification process. They measured fuel properties of synthesized CFOME which met ASTM standards.…”