Impact of aluminium oxide nanoparticles as an additive in diesel-methanol blends on a modern DI diesel engine

The development of nanotechnology makes nanoparticle additives for internal combustion engines possible and the existing research results have shown that the engine performances can be improved with metal-based nanoparticles additive in the fuel. The present study makes an attempt to add aluminium oxide (AL(2)O(3)) nanoparticles (25, 100 ppm) into diesel-methanol blends, and to study the impact of the nanoparticle additive on the characteristics of a modern DI diesel engine. The results showed that the presence of AL(2)O(3) nano-particles in the diesel-methanol blends improved the peak in-cylinder pressure, heat release rate and brake thermal efficiency by 2.5%, 16.1% and 3.6%, respectively, as compared with those without AL(2)O(3) additives, as well as the decreases in the ignition delay and combustion duration by up to 6.9% and 16%. And the brake specific fuel and energy consumption can be reduced by up to 3.7% and 3.5%, respectively. Moreover, engine emission tests showed the suppressions in CO, HC and smoke emissions by up to 83.3%, 40.9% and 69.2%, respectively, but a marginal increase in NOx emission by 14.4%. These results indicate that the presence of nanoparticle additives in the diesel-methanol blends can achieve sound effects of energy conservation and emission reductions.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that adding aluminum oxide (AL(2)O(3)) nanoparticles to diesel-methanol blends can significantly improve engine performance, including enhancing peak in-cylinder pressure and thermal efficiency, reducing ignition delay and combustion duration, as well as decreasing fuel consumption and energy consumption, and lowering CO, HC, and smoke emissions.