Investigation of performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of diesel engine equipped with exhaust gas recirculation using ceria and zirconia nanoparticles-blended rice bran biodiesel

Biofuels are attracted by many investigators because of its environment friendly nature and contribution in the reduction of global warming. The advent of nanotechnology improved the performance of the biofuels while including the nanoparticles in it. Hence, the research focussing on the performance improvement and emission reduction of engine using biofules blended with nanoparticles is a noteworthy. In the present work, an investigation was performed on Common Rail Direct Injection (CRDI) engine equipped with Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) setup to analyze the engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics at variable injection pressures by using rice bran biodiesel blended with ceria (CeO2) and zirconia (ZrO2) nanoparticles. Experimental work was done using fuel samples of pure diesel (D100), biodiesel (B30), biodiesel with 15% EGR (B30 + 15%EGR), biodiesel blended with 50 ppm ceria nanoparticles with 15% EGR (B30 + 50CeO(2) + 15% EGR), biodiesel blended with 50 ppm zirconia nanoparticles with 15% EGR (B30 + 50ZrO(2) + 15%EGR) and biodiesel blended with 50 ppm of ceria and zirconia nanoparticles with 15% EGR (B30 + 25ZrO(2) + 25CeO(2) + 15%EGR) under various load conditions and injection pressures. Based on the experimental work, the B30 + 25ZrO(2) + 25CeO(2) + 15%EGR fuel sample displayed better performance compared to other samples. The results showed that the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of B30 + 25ZrO(2) + 25CeO(2) + 15%EGR fuel sample was increased by 8% and the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) was reduced by 9% compared to D100. The combustion characteristics showed that the heat release rate and cylinder pressure were increased by 4.3% and 2.8% respectively. Further, the sample B30 + 25ZrO(2) + 25CeO(2) + 15%EGR decreased the exhaust emission of CO, HC, and NOx by 30%, 19%, and 13.3% respectively.

Automated summary

The study investigates the performance improvement and emission reduction of an engine using biofuels blended with nanoparticles. The experimental results show that the fuel sample B30 + 25ZrO(2) + 25CeO(2) + 15%EGR displays better performance compared to other samples, with increased brake thermal efficiency and reduced brake specific fuel consumption. Furthermore, this sample also decreases the emission of CO, HC, and NOx.