Experimental and numerical investigation of adding castor methyl ester and alumina nanoparticles on performance and emissions of a diesel engine

Diesel engine characteristics investigated numerically and experimentally while adding different concentrations of alumina Nano particle to the castor oil biodiesel. Experimental work conducted on single cylinder diesel engine taking into account different conditions of load. The Russian diesel-rk software is used to perform the numerical part. Three doses of Al2O3 are added to 20% CME biodiesel starting from 25 ppm, 50 ppm, and 100 ppm. Numerically it is observed that adding 25 ppm Al2O3 to 20% CME reduced BSFC by 16.66% while it was 14.86% in the experimental results. The hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) are reduced significantly compared to the case of 20%CME biodiesel. The experimental findings showed that with 25 ppm, 50 ppm, and 100 ppm of Al2O3 to biodiesel (20%CME), the opacity of smoke are decreased by 5.2%, 12%, and 17.0%. Maximum reduction in NOX is obtained for 25 ppm Al2O3 where 11% is recorded followed by 4.89% and 4.32% in case of 50 ppm and 100 ppm respectively. Best concentration of Nano addition is 25 ppm since no noticeable change is captured beyond (25) ppm for all parameters under scope. The numerical results are validated with experimental findings as well as with the results of other researchers.

Automated summary

Experimental and numerical investigations were conducted to study the effects of adding different concentrations of alumina Nano particles to castor oil biodiesel in diesel engines. The results showed that adding 25 ppm of Al2O3 to 20% CME biodiesel significantly reduced fuel consumption rate and emissions concentration. The best reduction in smoke opacity and NOX emissions was achieved with the addition of 25 ppm Al2O3.