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Effect of nano additives (titanium and

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 Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (5) (2016) 2361~2368
www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x(Print)/1976-3824(Online)
DOI 10.1007/s12206-016-0446-5

Effect of nano additives (titanium and zirconium oxides) and

diethyl ether on biodiesel-ethanol fuelled CI engine
Harish Venu* and Venkataramanan Madhavan
Institute for Energy Studies, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, Chennai, 600025, India

(Manuscript Received April 18, 2015; Revised November 21, 2015; Accepted December 29, 2015)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract

The present work is dedicated to the comparative experimental study of biodiesel-ethanol blends in a compression ignition engine us-
ing TiO2 (Titanium oxide) nanoparticle, ZrO2 (Zirconium oxide) nanoparticle and DEE (Diethyl ether) additives. The test fuels used are a
blend of biodiesel (80%) -ethanol (20%) (denoted as BE), a blend of BE with 25 ppm Titanium oxide nanoparticle (denoted as BE-Ti), a
blend of BE with 25 ppm Zirconium oxide nanoparticle (denoted as BE-Zr) and a blend of BE with 50 ml Diethyl ether (denoted as BE-
DEE). Addition of nanoparticles increases the oxidation rate, reduces the light-off temperature and creates large contact surface area with
the base fuel thereby enhancing the combustion with minimal emissions. Experimental results shown that addition of Titanium nanopar-
ticles increased NOx, HC and smoke with lowered BSFC and CO. Whereas addition of Zirconium nanoparticles increases BSFC and HC
emissions with lowered CO, CO2 and smoke emissions in comparison with BE blends. DEE addition to BE blends improved the heat
release rate and increased HC, CO emissions were observed with lowered BSFC, NOx and smoke. Simultaneous reduction of NOx and
smoke indicates the effect of DEE on Low temperature combustion (LTC).
Keywords: Combustion; Diethyl ether (DEE); Emission; Nano additives; Low temperature combustion (LTC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ing for piston crown in a diesel engine operating with pon-

1. Introduction
gamia methyl ester. Results showed that the BTE improved
Increasing fuel prices and depleting fossil fuel resources in with reduced BSFC. HC and CO emission were reduced with
recent years drawn attention towards the use of alternative fuel slightly increased NO emissions.
for diesel engines. The use of vegetable oil is popular, eco- Selvan et al. [11] investigated the effect of mixture of Ce-
nomic and implementable source among the various fuel al- rium oxide (CeO2) and Carbon nanotube (CNT) in a single
ternatives. cylinder 4 stroke water cooled variable compression ratio
Numerous research works were carried out using various engine using diesel-castor oil-ethanol blends. When blended at
biodiesels derived from karanji, jatropha curcas, pungamia 25, 50 and 100 ppm of 32 nm sized CeO2 and 100 nm sized
pinnata, soya bean, sunflower, rapeseed, etc., and their influ- CNT, brake thermal efficiency and cylinder pressure is in-
ence in a compression ignition engine was studied [1-8]. creased. Moreover, such a mixture of nano additives resulted
Singh [9] evaluated the performance of an indirect diesel in advanced peak pressure occurrence with a cleaner combus-
engine using unheated and heated Jatropha oil fuel blends. tion (i.e. reduced exhaust gases).
Results showed that, the brake thermal efficiency of heated Jung [12] found that suspension of nanoparticles in oxygen-
Jatropha oil is higher than unheated oil. Also, BSFC and ated fuel blends, especially methanol reduces the main global
smoke emissions were drastically lower for heated Jatropha greenhouse gas (CO2). They revealed that addition of nano
oil compared to unheated Jatropha oil. suspension could be a new cutting-edge technology for effec-
Works were also briefed on effect of different nanoparticles tive CO2 reduction in industrial systems including IGCC (In-
like titanium oxide, aluminium oxide, cerium oxide, magnal- tegrated gassification combined cycle). Based on this fact, a
ium cobalt oxide, etc., in biodiesel blends and improved en- novel approach is made in this research in reducing CO2 by
gine performance and emission characteristics in observed. adding nano additives to biofuel blends.
Prabhakar et al. [10] used ceramic material (TiO2) as a coat- Fangsuwannarak et al. [13] investigated the addition of
*
TiO2 nanoparticles in a single cylinder water cooled engine
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 8939118102, Fax.: +91 4422357912
E-mail address: harishvenuresearch@gmail.com
with palm oil-biodiesel blends. They found that, addition of

Recommended by Associate Editor Jeong Park TiO2 at a dosage level of 0.1 and 0.2% to the biodiesel blends
KSME & Springer 2016
2362 H. Venu and V. Madhavan / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (5) (2016) 2361~2368
reduced kinematic viscosity increased the cetane number with
significant reduction in BSFC, CO, CO2 and NOx.
Sujith et al. [14] used cerium oxide nano additive in Jatro-
pha biodiesel at a dosage level of 20-80 ppm and observed
that, the viscosity and flash point increased for the blends.
Also, they noticed that the brake thermal efficiency and HC
emissions increased with significant NOx reduction.
Effect of Magnalium cobalt oxide nano additives on Jatro-
pha biodiesel was studied by Ganesh et al. [15]. The particle
size used was 38-70 nm in scale with dosing of 100 mg/l. As a
result, they observed that specific energy consumption is re-
duced at part and full load conditions. Also, the brake thermal
efficiency is improved with reduced HC and CO emissions.
Yilmaz [16] compared the performance and emission char-
acteristics of a CI engine with biodiesel-ethanol and biodiesel-
methanol fuel blends at a blend ratio of 85% biodiesel -15%
alcohol with varying intake air temperatures. He concluded
that preheating of intake air could substantially reduce carbon
dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions with slightly increased
NOx emissions. He found that preheating has an impact in
reducing the fuel consumption of alcohol blends.
Kannan et al. [17] investigated the use of ferric chloride as a
fuel borne catalyst for waste cooking palm oil biodiesel. They
added ferric chloride at a concentration of 20 micromole per
litre. As a result, slight reduction in NOx is observed. Drastic
reduction of CO and HC is also noticed at engine optimum
operating condition of 280 bar injection pressure and 25.5
degree bTDC injection timing. Also, addition of the catalyst
improved the cylinder pressure and heat release rate.
Jung et al. [18] studied the influence of cerium additive on
the kinetics of ultrafine diesel particle oxidation. They have
found that oxidation rate increases significantly when cerium
nanoparticles added to fuel. They also concluded that addition
of cerium had no effect on overall activation energy of the fuel
mixture due to the presence of other metals in diesel particu-
late matter coming from lube oil.
Risha et al. [19] investigated the combustion behavior of
nano-Aluminium (nAl). They observed that, as the diameter of
the nanoparticle decreases, the mass-burning rates per unit
area increases. They also revealed a relationship between
burning rate and pressure which is linearly proportional. They
achieved a mass-burning rate per unit area of 6.1 g/cm2 at a
burning pressure of 4.3 MPa. Such significant surpassed levels
of high energy were not reported earlier with any solid propel-
lants as the authors concluded.
Gan et al. [20] observed the effect of nano aluminium and
micro-sized aluminium particles over the combustion charac-
teristics. They found that nano suspensions can remain stable
for a much longer time than micron suspensions due to higher
surface-to-volume ratio hence the interaction between particle
surface and the surrounding liquid is strong enough to over-
come differences in density. Also, they stated that five distinc-
tive stages (preheating, classical combustion, micro explosion,
surfactant flame, and droplet flame) were identified for a sta-
bilized n-decane/nano-Al droplet, while only three distinctive
stages (preheating, classical combustion, and micro explosion)
were identified for a stabilized n-decane/micron-Al with the
same mass-based particle concentration and surfactant con-
centration.
Yang et al. [21] performed a modeling study on effect of
ethanol addition in biodiesel with advanced fuel injection tim-
ing. Modelling and numerical simulation were done with
varying ethanol concentration in a constant speed engine
(2400 rpm) with different load conditions. Results indicated
that, cylinder pressure and indicated thermal efficiency re-
duced as ethanol concentration in blend (% vol) increased due
to prolonged ignition delay. As the ethanol concentration in-
creases, increased CO and reduced NOx were observed.
Yilmaz [22] performed a comparative study on CI engine
using biodiesel-ethanol and biodiesel-methanol fuel blends
with blend ratios of 85% biodiesel and 15% diesel. He con-
cluded that, in general, biodiesel-ethanol blends exhibits re-
duced NOx with increasing CO and HC emissions compared
to diesel. Moreover, he proved that biodiesel-ethanol blends in
engine perform better than biodiesel-methanol blends in im-
proving the engine performance with minimal emissions.
Hence, in this experiment ethanol is preferred instead metha-
nol.
Devdatta et al. [23] used aluminium oxide nanofluids as wa-
ter coolant in diesel generator. He identified that nanofluids
produced using aluminium oxide nanoparticles possess supe-
rior convective heat transfer coefficient. Also, the efficiency
of waste heat recovery heat exchanger increased considerably.
Kao et al. [24] performed tests in a diesel engine with aque-
ous aluminium nanofluid solution as an additive for diesel fuel.
They revealed that addition of nano solution made a tremen-
dous impact over the combustion heat released. Moreover, the
smoke and NOx emissions were reduced.
Ali et al. [25] studied the effect of magnesium (Mg) and
molybdenum (Mo) fuel additives in tall oil biodiesel. Addi-
tives are added at the rate of 4, 8 and 12 micromole per litre on
test fuels. They revealed that adding these additives improved
the fuel properties mainly flashpoint, pour point and viscosity.
They also noticed that CO and smoke opacity reduced by
addition of Mg and Mo additives. Slight reduction of BSFC is
also evident due to enhanced catalytic activity of additives in
biodiesel blends. Tewari et al. [26] investigated the effect of
Multiwalled Carbon nanotube in biodiesel sourced from
honge oil. Addition of MWCNTs resulted in increased ther-
mal efficiency, NOx with reduced CO and HC emissions.
Kim et al. [27] performed a comparative study of effect of
Biodiesel fuel (BDF) and oxygenated additive EGBE (ethyl-
ene glycol mono-n-butyl ether) in a compression igniton die-
sel engine. Results showed that the BDF and the BDF-EGBE
mix had significantly better smoke reduction than diesel. Also,
with the use of BDF-EGBE mix in 10% EGR (Exhaust Gas
Recirculation) simultaneous reduction of NOx and smoke is
observed.
In this present experimentation, four fuel blends were pre-
pared and fuelled in a compression ignition engine and their
 H. Venu and V. Madhavan / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (5) (2016) 2361~2368 2363

Table 1. Fuel properties of blending stocks. Table 2. Engine specification.

BE (biodiesel 80%- Parameter Specification

Properties Biodiesel Ethanol
ethanol 20%) Kirloskar, 4 stroke, vertical, air cooled, single
Type
Density (@ 20C), kg m-3 874.3 785 862.13 cylinder DI diesel engine
Kinematic viscosity Bore 87.5 x 110 (in mm)
4.34 0.79 3.48
(@40C), cSt Compression ratio 17.5;1
Calorific value, kJ/kg 42673 27000 40243 Injection timing 23 deg. before TDC (static)
Cetane number 52.7 8 42.78 Rated power 4.4 kW at 1500 rpm
Flash point, C 130 13.5 109.43 Injection pressure 200 bar

Table 3. Technical specifications of instruments used.

performance and emission characteristics were analyzed. Tita-
nium oxide and zirconium oxide nanoparticles were used. Measuring
Make and model Range Accuracy
TiO2 possess 4000 K volatization temperature (Tvol) and Heat instrument
of formation (DHf) of -2459 kJ/mole. ZrO2 possess 4280 K, T Pressure - 0-250 bar +3%
vol and DHf of -1097 kJ/mole [28]. Since TiO2 and ZrO2 nano- Operating temp - <+0.5%
Pressure charge KISTLER type
150 to 200 bar
particles possess high volatization temperature and heat of amplifier 7031
Natural frequency
formation, a fraction of 25 ppm is prepared and blended with 80 kHz
the base fuel (BE). A blend of biodiesel (80%)-ethanol (20%) Piezo electric KISTLER type
denoted as BE, a blend of biodiesel (80%)-ethanol (20%) with Sensitivity 7A Pc/bar 0.1%
transducer 7063-A
50 ml Diethyl ether (DEE) denoted as BE-DEE, of biodiesel CO 0.0-9.99% 0.01%
(80%)-ethanol (20%) with 25 ppm Titanium oxide nanoparti- HC 0.0-15000.0 ppm 1%
Exhaust gas QROTECH type
cle denoted as BE-Ti, of biodiesel (80%)-ethanol (20%) with analyzer 402
CO2 0.0-20.0% 0.01%
25 ppm Zirconium oxide denoted as BE-Zr. It is to be under- NOx 0.0 -5000.0 ppm 0.01%
O2 0.0-25.0% 0.01%
stood that 50 ml Diethyl ether and 25 ppm nanoparticles are
ignition enhancers and added in a small quantity so that their AVL
Smoke meter 0.0-100.0% +1%
type 437 C
concentration is independent of the mixture percentage i.e., 50
Pressure 0-250 bar +3%
ml diethyl ether addition, 25 ppm nanoparticles are blended
Operating temp
with BE blends (biodiesel (80%)-ethanol (20%)). BE is taken Pressure charge KISTLER type
-150 to 200 bar <+0.5%
as baseline test fuel and all the remaining fuel blends are com- amplifier 7031
Natural frequency
pared with BE for optimizing the effective blend. 80 kHz 0.2%

2. Experimental material & methods

2.1 Experimental fuels
Jatropha seeds were processed, crushed and raw jatropha oil
is extracted. The raw oil is transformed to jatropha biodiesel
by a process named transesterification, where glycerin is ob-
tained as by product along with jatropha methyl ester. Ob-
tained jatropha biodiesel has high cetane number, high density,
flash point and lower sulfur content compared to diesel. Etha-
nol used for the experimentation is industrial grade anhydrous
ethanol. In order to understand effects of titanium oxide, zir-
conium oxide and diethyl ether additive on biodiesel-ethanol
blend in detail, four kinds of fuels including BE, BE-Ti, BE-
Zr, and BE-DEE were tested in this study. Main property of
blending stocks and test fuels are given in Table 1.
2.2 Experimental setup and procedure
Agricultural applications and mobile generators use single
cylinder, kirloskar type, direct injection engine. Hence, a sta-
tionary diesel powered Kirloskar engine (Model: TAF-1
Make: Kirloskar) was employed for experimentation. The test
engine specifications were given in Table 2. The engine is
connected to eddy current dynamometer with electrical resis-
tance followed by a dynamometer controller. Exhaust gas
concentrations (HC, NOx, CO, CO2 and O2) were measured
through gas analyser. The specifications of gas analyser and
other measuring instruments are listed in Table 3. Block dia-
gram of installation and experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1.
3. Results and discussions
3.1 Cylinder pressure variation
Fig. 2 shows the variation of cylinder pressure with respect
to crank angle for various blends. BE exhibits highest cylinder
pressure of 70.21 bar, followed by 69.27 bar for BE-Ti, 67.79
bar for BE-Zr and 65.67 bar for BE-DEE. The main reason for
BE to exhibit such a pressure is mainly accounted to the pres-
ence of pure ethanol without any additives. The alcohol con-
tent vaporizes quickly as the engine in cylinder temperature
increases liberating all latent heat. Titanium oxide nanoparti-
cle acts as an effective combustion catalyst and plays a major
role in cylinder pressure as it ejects 69.27 bar (slightly lower
2364 H. Venu and V. Madhavan / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (5) (2016) 2361~2368
Fig. 1. Engine installation setup.
Fig. 2. Cylinder pressure variation with respect to brake power.
Fig. 3. Heat release rate variation with respect to brake power.
than BE blends).
3.2 Heat release variation
Fig. 3 shows the heat release rate variation of various fuel
blends with respect to crank angle. It is observed that, BE-Zr
exhibits highest heat release rate of 63.243J followed by 62.75
J for BE-DEE, 61.15 J for BE and 59.24 J for BE-Ti. The
main reason for zirconium additives liberating highest heat
release could be attributed to complete burning of all the nano-
particles in fuel mixtures. This triggers the catalytic activity of
the nanoparticle and thereby increases the combustion effi-
ciency. Titanium oxide nanoparticles produced maximum
combustion pressure (from Fig. 2), but still gives reduced heat
Brake Specific Fuel Consumption
BE
0.5 BE-DEE
BE-Ti
BE-Zr
(kg/kW-hr)
0.4
0.3
1 2 3 4 5
Brake power (kW)
Fig. 4. Variation of BSFC with respect to brake power.
release rate. The sole reason for this could be the oxidation
potential of titanium oxide at higher engine loads, where very
less fuel is consumed by engine (from Fig. 4) and all the fuel
is burnt completely due to more combustion time. Whereas,
BE-Zr has very high BSFC and when more fuel is accumu-
lated in combustion chamber, more heat release rate is obvi-
ous with reduced pressure.
3.3 Brake specific fuel consumption
Fig. 4 depicts the variation of brake specific fuel consump-
tion of various fuel blends with respect to brake power. Ini-
tially, BE-DEE possess lowest BSFC of 0.4846 kg/kW-hr at
25% engine load condition and BE blend possess 0.5397
kg/kW-hr. This may be due to the influence of DEE in the
amount of fuel supplied to maintain engine speed constant.
DEE has high volatility and latent heat of vaporization which
reduces the fuel consumption. At 75% engine load condition,
lowest BSFC is recorded for BE blends. The main reason that
could be attributed to this is the presence of pure ethanol in the
fuel blend that helps in increased rate of combustion followed
by lowest fuel consumption. Effect of titanium nano additive
in BSFC is evident at engine running at full load, where it
showed 0.2858 kg/kW-hr while rest of the blends possess
slightly higher fuel consumption value. Titanium oxide nano-
particles act as combustion catalyst for BE blends in the pres-
ence of higher engine cylinder temperature and pressure.
3.4 Nitrogen oxide variation
The variation of Nitrogen oxide emissions in diesel engines
is clearly depicted in Fig. 5. Nitrogen oxides in diesel engines
primarily depend upon in-cylinder temperature, oxygen con-
tent in the fuel and air fuel mixture ratio. From figure, we infer
that nitrogen oxide emission increases gradually as the load
increases. BE-DEE exhibits lowered NOx throughout the load.
This could be dedicated to high latent heat of vaporization
of diethyl ether which enables Low temperature combustion
(LTC). Titanium oxide nano additives play a major role in
combustion process in higher engine loads. In lower load,
nanoparticles doesnt make much difference in performance
and emissions. As the load increases, the nanoparticles starts
 H. Venu and V. Madhavan / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (5) (2016) 2361~2368
2000 BE
BE-DEE
Oxides of nitrogen (ppm)
BE-Ti
1600 BE-Zr
1200
800
400
0 1 2 3 4 5
Brake power (kW)
Fig. 5. Variation of nitrogen oxides emissions with respect to brake
power.
Fig. 6. Variation of CO emissions with respect to brake power.
burning at very high engine temperature and acts as an oxygen
buffer promoting complete combustion. Hence, BE-Ti exhib-
its highest NOx in comparison with rest of the blends.
3.5 Carbon monoxide variation
The CO emissions variation of the test fuels with respect to
Brake power at 1500 r/min is shown in Fig. 6. Carbon monox-
ide (CO) emissions from internal combustion engines are con-
trolled primarily by the fuel-air equivalence ratio. Diesels,
however, always operate well on the lean side of stoichiomet-
ric; CO emissions from diesel are low enough to be unimpor-
tant [29]. But, while considering alternate fuels CO emission
plays a vital role because CO emissions are in equilibrium
during the combustion process but lately it deviates from equi-
librium during expansion stroke. With DEE addition, high CO
is observed in lower loads compared to BE-Ti and BE-Zr.
Incomplete combustion cannot be attributed for DEE added
blends for increased CO emissions as the smoke levels are low
at lower loads. The possible reason for increased CO is that,
the addition of oxygenated blends promotes Low temperature
combustion (LTC) even at higher loads and this temperature
may not be sufficient for dissociation of CO2 into CO resulting
in increased CO emission. Considering nano additives in BE,
At lower engine loads reduction of CO and at higher engine
loads slight increase in CO is observed comparing with neat
BE blends. The possible reason could be that nanofuel mixture
operates at lean mixture in comparison with neat BE blends.
At higher engine loads, the presence of nano additives lowers
the rate of combustion and slightly lowered rate of combustion
2365
60
50
Hydrocarbon
(ppm)
40
BE
BE-DEE
30
BE-Ti
BE-Zr
200 1 2 3 4 5
Brake power (kW)
Fig. 7. Variation of hydrocarbon emissions with respect to brake
power.
is evident from increased smoke opacity for BE-Ti. Whereas,
for BE-Zr blend less smoke and slightly increased CO is ob-
served. The in-cylinder temperature is not enough for burning
the nano fuel mixture (i.e oxidation of Zirconium) at high
loads resulting in slightly increased CO emissions.
3.6 Hydrocarbon variation
Variation of Hydrocarbon (HC) emissions with respect to
brake power is clearly indicated in the Fig. 7. Addition of
DEE in BE blends would probably result in Low temperature
combustion (LTC). This phenomenon is also likely to be re-
sponsible for HC being predominant around the cylinder walls
compared to rest of the blends. Moreover, at lower loads, the
combustion temperature is also less which cannot burn the
nano blended BE blends (BE-Ti and BE-Zr). So it causes in-
crease in HC in comparison with BE blends, where the pres-
ence of pure ethanol increased the combustion efficiency at all
the loads.
At part loads, except BE blends all the fuel blends exhibited
almost similar HC emissions. At 100% engine load condition,
the engine combustion temperature would not be sufficiently
high to burn down all the nanoparticles present in fuel blends
(BE-Ti and BE-Zr) which would be the sole reason for sudden
increase in HC at higher loads for the above said blends.
3.7 Smoke opacity variation
Fig. 8 illustrates the variation of smoke with respect to
brake power as the engine load increases. The smoke emis-
sions are highest for BE-Ti, whereas lowest for BE-Zr. So, the
presence of two different nano additives clearly makes an
impact over combustion enhancement. From the engine com-
bustion characteristics (Figs. 2 and 3), we infer that BE-Zr
produces more amount of heat than any other blends, which
signifies the complete burning of all the nanofuel mixture
resulting in complete combustion and reduced smoke. Also,
Titanium nanoparticles are not burnt effectively during the
combustion. Some of the nanoparticle mixtures are released as
UBHC (Unburned hydrocarbons) and at the same time less
oxidation of soot particles of BE-Ti resulted in increased
smoke as well.
2366 H. Venu and V. Madhavan / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (5) (2016) 2361~2368

BE chemical and combustion parameters on whole. At the same

45 BE-DEE time, very few literatures focused on comparative study of two
Smoke oapcity (%)
BE-Ti
40 nanoparticles for same base fluid in combustion. Considering
BE-Zr
35 all the above perspectives, in the current research titanium and
30 zirconium nanoparticles were synthesized and experimented
25 since they possess high volatization temperature and heat of
20 formation.
15 In the present work, biodiesel (80%)-ethanol (20%) blends
1 2 3 4 5
(BE) were subjected to the influence of titanium nano addi-
Brake power (kW)
tives of 25 ppm, zirconium nano additives of 25 ppm and di-
Fig. 8. Variation of smoke opacity with respect to brake power. ethyl ether (5%) and their performance and emissions were
compared with pure BE blends. Based on experimentation,
10 BE following results were obtained. Titanium oxide addition in
BE-DEE BE blends improved the in-cylinder pressure and reduced heat
BE-Ti
Carbon dioxide (%)

8
BE-Zr release rate is observed. BSFC and CO reduced with increas-
6 ing NOx, HC and smoke emissions. Zirconium oxide addition
lowered the cylinder pressure with slightly increased heat
4
release rate. Moreover, BSFC and HC emissions increased
2 tremendously with lowered CO, CO2 and smoke emissions.
0 1 2
Brake power (kW)
3 4 5 NOx reduction is moderate. Diethyl ether addition improved
the heat release characteristics with slightly lowered pressure.
Fig. 9. Variation of carbon dioxide with respect to brake power. Increased HC and CO emissions with lowered BSFC, smoke
and NOx emissions were obvious. Overall, BE-Ti reflects
better performance and combustion characteristics with mini-
BE-DEE exhibits lowered smoke at lower and part load mal emissions.
conditions. But at higher engine loads, the smoke opacity in-
creases to 4.04%. This is mainly due to more fuel entering in
Nomenclature------------------------------------------------------------------------
the combustion chamber and all the DEE mixtures cannot be
combusted at this time resulting in increased smoke. Incom- BE : Biodiesel (80%) - ethanol (20%)
plete combustion cannot be attributed for BE-DEE because BE-DEE : Biodiesel (80%) - ethanol (20%) with 50ml Diethyl
diethyl ether promotes Low temperature combustion (LTC) ether
which is clear why smoke is predominant at higher loads. TiO2 : Titanium oxide nanoparticle
ZrO2 : Zirconium oxide nanoparticle
3.8 Carbon dioxide variation BE-Ti : Biodiesel (80%) - ethanol (20%) with 25 ppm Tita-
nium oxide nanoparticle
Variation of CO2 emissions with respect to Brake power is BE-Zr : Biodiesel (80%) - ethanol (20%) with 25 ppm Zirco-
shown clearly in Fig. 9. The figure indicates that, almost all nium oxide nanoparticle
the blends exhibits similar trends, but it is note-worthy that at BSFC : Brake specific fuel consumption
lower engine loads, BE-Ti exhibits slightly lowered CO2 in DEE : Diethyl ether
comparison with rest of the blends due to lower in cylinder CO2 : Carbon dioxide
temperature and pressure which is not sufficient for CO oxida- NOx : Nitrogen oxide
tion. HC : Hydrocarbon
Also, at lower loads the presence of nano additives does not CO : Carbon monoxide
make an impact due to less engine temperatures. Hence, BE
exhibits improved CO2 indicating better combustion. At
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 2368 H. Venu and V. Madhavan / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (5) (2016) 2361~2368
Harish Venu received his Bachelors
(B.E) and Masters degree (M.E) in Me-
chanical Engineering from the Me-
chanical Engineering Department of St.
Josephs college of engineering and
Anna University in 2011 and 2013, re-
spectively. In July 2013, he started his
Ph.D. program in Mechanical Engineer-
ing at Anna University, Chennai, India. His research interest
includes biofuels, alternative fuels, nano additives, internal
combustion engines and fuel cells.
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Venkataramanan Madhavan received
his Bachelors degree (B.E) in Madras
University in 1998 and Masters degree
(M.Tech) in School of Energy in 2000.
He completed his doctorate in 2008 in
area of Biomass Gasification. His re-
search interests includes gasification,
solar cells, alternative fuels and energy
conservation.