Formulation of an economical microemulsion of diesel/colza oil fuel and investigation of some physical parameters for its stability

Abstract

The formulation of an economical diesel/colza oil/water microemulsion fuel is reported. The modification of diesel fuel significantly improves its fuel properties as well as environmental pollution issues. To investigate the possibility of using colza oil with diesel fuel and adding water to reduce emissions of diesel combustion, the phase diagrams of the system were constructed using titration method with co‐surfactant. n‐Butanol is selected as co‐surfactant among the investigated alcohols with different chain lengths as it formed wide single phase area. Using of n‐butanol was helped to tune solubilizing of water in diesel/colza oil blend and to reduce its viscosity. Here, a 4:1 blend of diesel:colza oil, 5% water and n‐butanol was selected as base system which was then optimized to obtain a reasonably economical formulation with acceptable physical properties. According to the measurements of physical properties, such as viscosity, temperature stability, water droplet size and considering an economical point of view, the optimum microemulsion system was composed of 75% diesel/colza oil (4:1), 5% water, 10% n‐butanol, 8% Brij 30 and 2% Tween 80, and was prepared in room temperature (21–25) °C by stirring with 500 rpm for 5 min. The optimum system was stable up to 45°C. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 37: 1762–1769, 2018

Experimental Investigation of Emission, Combustion, and Energy Performance of a Novel Diesel/Colza Oil Fuel Microemulsion in a Direct-Injection Diesel Engine

“…64 In fact, the maximum time that they have studied the emulsion Energy & Fuels stabilities has been 24 h, but our MEs have been proven to be stable up to 9 months. 65,66 The experiments are performed in different engine loads, and the following important conclusions can be made by this work:…”

“…Meanwhile, a few fuel ME formulations have been reported with a very low surfactant content, but they have used different emulsification methods . In fact, the maximum time that they have studied the emulsion stabilities has been 24 h, but our MEs have been proven to be stable up to 9 months. , …”

Production of New Surfactant-free Microemulsion Biofuels: Phase Behavior and Nanostructure Identification

“…Knowledge of the single-phase microemulsion region is essential for formulation studies. The single-phase microemulsion zone was obtained by titrating method at 25 °C, where a mixture of two components (vegetable oil/additive or ethanol/additive) at different ratios was titrated with the third component (ethanol or vegetable oil, respectively) under vortex shaking. The binodal curve was detected as those compositions where samples became turbid.…”

Effect of alcohol on the properties of water‐in‐diesel microemulsion fuels

“…Water‐in‐diesel microemulsions are preferred over other systems as the water droplets cause microexplosions at high temperatures of combustion, resulting in secondary atomization of the fuel, and help in improving the premixing of the air‐fuel mixture by increasing local turbulence, as shown in Figure . The reduction in temperature due to the higher latent heat of water results in a reduction in NO x emissions . Increase in density and viscosity with an increase in the percentage of water in microemulsions has been reported for diesel‐based microemulsions stabilized by ethoxylated nonylphenol .…”