Renewable Energy 80 (2015) 655e663

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Inuence of alumina nanoparticles, ethanol and isopropanol blend as

additive with dieselesoybean biodiesel blend fuel: Combustion,
engine performance and emissions
T. Shaa, R. Velraj*
Institute for Energy Studies, CEG, Anna University, Chennai, 600025, India

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 6 May 2014
Accepted 21 February 2015
Available online

Experimental investigation was carried out to study the combustion, engine performance and emission
characteristics of a single cylinder, naturally aspirated, air cooled, constant speed compression ignition
engine, fuelled with two modied fuel blends, B20 (Dieselesoybean biodiesel) and dieselesoybean
biodieseleethanol blends, with alumina as a nanoadditive (D80SBD15E4S1 alumina), and the results
are compared with those of neat diesel. The nanoadditive was mixed in the fuel blend along with a
suitable surfactant by means of an ultrasonicator, to achieve stable suspension. The properties of B20,
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend are changed due to the mixing of soybean biodiesel and the
incorporation of the alumina nanoadditives. Some of the measured properties are compared with those
of neat diesel, and presented. The cylinder pressure during the combustion and the heat release rate, are
higher in the D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend, compared to neat diesel. Further, the exhaust gas
temperature is reduced in the case of the D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend, which shows that higher
temperature difference prevailing during the expansion stroke could be the major reason for the higher
brake thermal efciency in the case of D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend. The presence of oxygen in
the soybean biodiesel, and the better mixing capabilities of the nanoparticles, reduce the CO and UBHC
appreciably, though there is a small increase in NOx at full load condition.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Diesel engine performance
Alternative fuels
Soybean biodiesel
Alumina nanoparticle
Emission characteristics

1. Introduction
Diesel engines normally reveal higher thermal efciency in
automotive applications, due to their better fuel economy
compared to gasoline engines. On the other hand, the combustion
of diesel fuel emits more hazardous pollutants such as NOx and
particulate matter than gasoline engines. Polluted air leads to
climate changes and affects plants, animals and human health.
Moreover, conventional fossil fuels in the world are declining day
by day, due to the growth of population and the subsequent energy
utilization; and the stringent government emission standards have
driven scientists and researchers to identify suitable renewable
alternative fuels for diesel engines, for better performance and
good emission control. Most of the researchers have contributed
their efforts to reduce the emissions from the compression ignition

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 91 4422357600; fax: 91 4422351991.

E-mail address: velrajr@gmail.com (R. Velraj).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2015.02.042
0960-1481/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

engine (CI) in three ways 1) modifying the engine design 2) fuel

modication 3) treatment of the exhaust gas.
The fuel modication method is widely accepted by many researchers to achieve the specic fuel properties, to improve the
performance and emission control of the diesel engine. Xue et al.
[1] reviewed the effect of biodiesel on engine performance and
emissions, and concluded that, blends with a small portion of
biodiesel are technically feasible as alternative fuels in a CI engine
with no or minor modication to the engine. Hansen et al. [2]
critically reviewed the ethanol-diesel fuel blend for engine performance, durability and emissions. Riberio et al. [3] critically
reviewed the role of additives for diesel and biodiesel blended
(ethanol or biodiesel) fuels. Gr et al. [4] observed that the
manganese additive had a stronger effect on the reduction of the
fuel's freezing point, and also the exhaust emission of the fuel. The
results showed that O2 was reduced by 0.2%, and CO 14.3% and CO2
was increased, but SO2 was reduced, while the net efciency was
increased by 0.8%. Moreover, they concluded that the manganese
additive improves the diesel fuel properties compared with other
organic metals. The inuence of a cerium additive on the kinetics of

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T. Shaa, R. Velraj / Renewable Energy 80 (2015) 655e663

oxidation and size distribution of ultrane diesel particles, was

studied by Jung et al. [5]. They observed that the addition of cerium
to the diesel caused signicant changes in number e weighted size
distributions, light off temperature, and kinetics of oxidation.
The recent advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology paved
the way to produce nanoscale energetic materials which have
tremendous advantages over micron sized materials. Ignition delay
and ignition temperatures are the critical parameters to characterize
the performance and emissions of a diesel engine. Tyagi et al. [6]
attempted to improve the ignition properties of diesel fuel by adding aluminium and aluminium oxide nanoparticles to diesel using
the hot plate experiment. It was observed, that in all the cases the
ignition probability for the diesel nanoparticle mixture was higher
than that of pure diesel. Moreover, they concluded that, neither the
change in the nanoparticle material nor the nanoparticle size
inuenced the ignition probability of the nanoparticle diesel
mixtures. The combustion characteristics of n-decane and ethanol
considered as the base uid with the addition of aluminium, boron,
iron, and aluminium oxide were investigated by Refs. [7e9]. Based
on the above, most of the researchers conducted their experiments
with metal nanoadditives [10], metal oxide nanoadditives [11e14],
magnetic nano uid additives [15,16] and water diesel nanoparticle,
emulsion [17e19], water diesel carbon nano tube emulsion [20], and
nano organic additives [21,22] to the diesel fuel. Very few researchers worked, on the use of nanoadditives to biodiesel for the
enhancement of the performance and emission characteristics.
Sajith et al. [23] carried out an extensive investigation on a diesel
engine fuelled with and without cerium oxide additives, to study the
performance and emission characteristics. They found that the
viscosity and volatility hold direct relations with the dosing level of
20e80 ppm. The emission levels of HC and NOx are appreciably
reduced with the inclusion of CeO2. To reduce the NOx and PM
emission from the CI engines, emulsication techniques are adopted. Basha and Anand [24] investigated the performance and
emissions of a diesel engine fuelled with biodiesel emulsion fuel
incorporation of alumina nanoparticles in the mass fractions of 25,
50 and 100 ppm, with a higher concentration of water. They
observed that the magnitude of NOx, and smoke emission was
870 ppm and 49% for JBDS15W100A (83% jatropha biodiesel 2%
surfactant 15% water 100 ppm of alumina) fuel at full load.
Further, the same team [25] studied the alumina e CNT blended
with biodiesel fuel in the mass fractions of 25 and 50 ppm in a diesel
engine. They observed a considerable enhancement in the brake
thermal efciency, and a marginal reduction in the harmful emissions. Further, they conrmed through their hot plate experiments
that, a shorter ignition delay improved the heat transfer due to the
enhanced surface area/volume ratio, and heat conduction properties. Metal based additives act as a combustion catalyst to 1) promote the combustion 2) reduce fuel consumption and 3) reduce
emissions of hydrocarbon fuels. Kannan et al. [26] used ferric chloride as a fuel borne catalyst (FBC) to the waste cooking palm oil
based biodiesel, to improve the properties of biodiesel. It was found
from the experiments that, FBC added palm oil based biodiesel was a
suitable alternative to diesel fuel. They observed a slight improvement in the brake specic fuel consumption, brake specic energy
consumption and brake thermal efciency for the FBC added biodiesel at optimized operating conditions. Fangsuwannarak [27]
attempted a comparative study of palm biodiesel properties and
engine performance with the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles to palm
biodiesel. The results showed that the nano TiO2 additive of 0.1% by
volume, gave the most effective performance, and also yielded
better overall properties such as reduced kinematic viscosity,
increased cetane number, increased lower heating value, increased
ash point, but the quality of the fuel properties was decreased with
the increase of the biodiesel blend. Moreover, the emission levels of

CO, CO2 and NOx were appreciably reduced with the addition of the
TiO2 nanoparticles.
Selvan et al. [28] investigated the performance and emission
characteristics of a CI engine using cerium oxide nanoparticles as an
additive, in diesel and diesel-biodiesel-ethanol blends. They
concluded that cerium oxide nanoparticle additive acts as an oxygen donating catalyst, and also provides oxygen for the oxidation of
CO or absorbs oxygen for the reduction of NOx. They revealed that
the cerium oxide additive improved the complete combustion of
the fuel, and reduced the exhaust emissions signicantly. Cerium
oxide nanoparticles exhibit high catalytic activity due to their high
surface area per unit volume, which leads to improved fuel efciency and reduction in emission.
The combustion behaviour of traditional liquid fuels with the
addition of nanoscale energetic materials as fuel additives to
enhance the performance and emissions in a diesel engine is an
interesting concept. In the present work, the combustion, engine
performance and emission characteristics of a single cylinder diesel
engine fuelled with two modied fuel blends B20 (Dieselesoybean
biodiesel), and dieselesoybean biodieseleethanol blends with
alumina as nanoadditive (D80SBD15E4S1 alumina), were tested
and the results are compared with those of neat diesel.
2. Preparation of modied fuel blend and its properties
In the present study, two types of modied fuel blends are
prepared and their performance are compared with neat diesel. The
rst blend consists of 80% diesel and 20% soybean biodiesel (B20).
The second blend consists of a mixture of 80% diesel, 15% soybean
biodiesel, 4% ethanol, and 1% isopropanol as a surfactant, and
alumina nanoparticles of 100 mg/L are used to produce the modied D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend. The commercially
available Al2O3 nanoparticles of size less than 50 nm, procured from
M/s Sigma Aldrich were used as additives in the present investigation. Its molecular weight, relative density, and surface area are
101, 96 g/mol, 4000 g/cm3, >40 m2/g respectively. Soybean biodiesel was procured from M/s Jatropha Oil Seed Development &
Research, Hyderabad, India. By using the two-step method the
modied fuel was prepared. First, 100 mg of alumina nanoparticles
were mixed in ethanol (99.9% purity) and then, mixed with the
dieselesoybean biodiesel blend. The phase separation is prevented
by the addition of isopropanol as a surfactant in the above fuel
blend. The fuel sample was transferred to the ultrasonicator to
intensively disperse the particles and to reduce their agglomeration. The two step method works well for oxide nanoparticles
[29e32]. Fig. 1 shows the TEM image of the Aluminium Oxide

Fig. 1. TEM image of the Aluminium Oxide nanoparticle.

T. Shaa, R. Velraj / Renewable Energy 80 (2015) 655e663

nanoparticle. The fuel properties of neat diesel, B20, and

D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend were determined at M/s Ita
lab Private Limited, Chennai, India. Standard ASTM test procedures
were followed in the experiments. Table 1 lists the properties of
pure diesel and the B20, dieselesoybean biodieseleethanol blends,
with Al2O3 fuels used in the present investigation.
It is seen from the table that the specic gravity and viscosity
increases in the B20 blend and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel
blend compared to neat diesel, due to the presence of the soybean
biodiesel. As the caloric value of the soybean biodiesel is lesser
than that of neat diesel, the blend mixtures show a decrease in the
caloric value in proportion to the percentage mixing of the
biodiesel.
3. Experimental setup and procedure
The schematic diagram of the experimental set-up is shown in
Fig. 2. A stationary single cylinder diesel engine was used in this
investigation, which is used for agricultural and low power generation purposes. The engine specications are given in Table 2. The
AC generator was used to apply the load on the engine. The load on
the engine was varied by the resistance load bank using a rheostat.
An orice meter connected to an air surge tank was used to measure the air consumption by the engine. The fuel tank was kept on
an electronic weighing balance and the fuel consumption rate was
measured by the time taken for the consumption of 10 g of fuel,
which is monitored by the reduction in the fuel weight shown by
the electronic balance. The AVL make pressure transducer and a
crank angle encoder were used to measure the in-cylinder gas
pressure and the corresponding crank angle. A k-type thermocouple is mounted on the exhaust pipe to measure the exhaust gas
temperature, which is used as a reference temperature to analyse
the variation in the temperature in the combustion chamber. The
AVL 444 Di-Gas analyser was used to measure the emission parameters. A computerized data acquisition system is used to collect,
store, and analyse the data during the engine testing.
To begin with, the engine was started and allowed to run for
45 min until it is stabilized. The engine was fuelled with diesel, and
then with the diesel-soybean biodiesel blend followed by the
diesel-biodiesel-ethanol-alumina blend. Under steady state conditions, the fuel consumption rate, air consumption rate, constituents
of exhaust gas, temperature of exhaust gas and parameters of
combustion were recorded at various loads starting from the no
load condition to the full load one. The engine was operated for
15 min at each load to stabilize it. During the experiment it was
ensured that the lubricating oil temperature did not exceed 90 C.
To check the reliability of the measurement for each load, the
experiment was carried out two or three times. The repeatability of
the experiment was found to be good.
4. Results and discussion
It was observed that, the operation of the engine was very
smooth throughout the rated load, without any operational

Table 1
Properties of the fuel blend.
Fuel property

Diesel

Soybean
biodiesel

Diesel
Biodiesel
(B20)

D80SBD15E4S1
alumina fuel
blend

Specic gravity
Viscosity at 40  C (cSt)
Calculated Cetane Index
Caloric value MJ/kg

0.825
2.61
57
44.70

0.865
4.78
49
41.20

0.847
3.70
42
43

0.840
3.37
52
42.59

657

problems for the B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blends. In

this section, the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of the engine fuelled with B20, D80SBD15E4S1 alumina
fuel blend are discussed and compared with those of neat diesel.
4.1. Combustion characteristics
Fig. 3 shows the variation of the cylinder pressure with crank
angle at full load condition, for all the fuels considered in the present analysis. It is seen from the gure that the pressure starts
increasing appreciably from 7 before TDC for all the fuels, and a
sharp increase is observed up to 7 after TDC in the case of the
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend and up to 8 , after TDC in the
case of pure diesel and B20 blend. The increase in pressure
observed in the case of D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend is due
to the higher surface area exposure of the alumina nanoparticle
(>40 m2/g) supported by the inherent oxygen present in the soybean biodiesel that enhances the better mixing and helps rapid
combustion.
The peak pressure is 64.61 bar in the case of
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend, whereas for neat diesel and
B20 blend, the values are 63.03 bar and 62.41 bar respectively.
Similarly, the peak pressure is higher for D80SBD15E4S1 alumina
fuel blend at all the loads considered in the present analysis, as
shown in Fig. 4. The B20 blend exhibits a marginally lower peak
pressure, due to its lower energy content (lower caloric value).
Further, it is seen that the peak pressure increases with respect to
load for all the fuels, which is due to the increase in heat energy
released with the increase in the quantity of fuel burnt as the load
increases.
Fig. 5 shows the heat release rate for diesel, B20,
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend at rated load for the variation
of the crank angle. The highest heat release rate is observed as 62 J/
CA for D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend, whereas it is 51.60 J/
CA, 53.12 J/CA for neat diesel and B20 blend respectively. Though
the D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend has lower caloric value
compared to the other two fuels, it has higher instantaneous heat
release rate between the crank angles of 6.5 and 1 before TDC
(Top Dead Centre). This is the major contribution of the presence of
the alumina nanoparticle, which enhances the combustion rate,
which will also lead to complete combustion, as evinced from the
higher peak pressure observed with D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel
blend.
Fig. 6 shows the variation of the ignition delay period of neat
diesel, B20, D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend at various loads. It
is seen from the gure that the ignition delay decreases with an
increase in load in all the cases. Further, it is seen that the ignition
delay is the maximum in the case of B20 at the no load condition,
and minimum in the case of the full load condition. The ignition
delay is higher in the case of the no load condition, which is due to
the higher viscosity of the B20 blend, that leads to poor atomization
of the fuel. However, as the load increases, the increase in temperature of the combustion chamber decreases the viscosity of the
B20 blend that leads to minimum ignition delay. Similarly, in the
case of D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend, though the enhanced
surface area allows for better mixing at lower loads, the ignition
delay is higher compared to neat diesel due to its higher viscosity,
whereas at higher loads due to elevated temperature, the ignition
delay decreases.
4.2. Engine performance
Fig. 7 shows the brake thermal efciency of the three fuels
tested under different loading conditions. In the case of neat diesel
the brake thermal efciency is almost constant beyond 50% load.

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T. Shaa, R. Velraj / Renewable Energy 80 (2015) 655e663

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the experimental set-up. 1) Diesel engine 2) AC generator 3) Resistive Load Bank 4) Fuel tank 5) Electronic Weighing balance 6) Air surge tank 7)
Pressure sensor 8) Crank angle encoder 9) Charge amplier 10) Exhaust gas analyser 11) Personal computer.

However, in the case of the other two fuels there is a continuous

increase in efciency with increase in load, and the efciency is
higher for B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend compared
to neat diesel at full load condition. An increase in thermal efciency of 15.8% and 17.9% was observed in the case of B20 and
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend respectively, compared to
neat diesel at full load condition. This is due to the complete
combustion that occurred in the B20, due to the presence of higher
oxygen in the fuel, and the further increase in efciency in the case
of D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend is due to the micro explosion of the primary droplet, and higher evaporation rate due to
the presence of the alumina nanoparticle. Hence, there is a full
release of thermal energy that leads to higher brake thermal
efciency.
The performance is also given in terms of BSFC and BSEC at
various loads, as these parameters directly indicate the mass of fuel
consumed and energy consumption respectively, per unit power
output. Fig. 8 shows the variation of the brake specic fuel consumption (BSFC) with load. It is seen from the gure, that for all the
tested fuels, the brake specic fuel consumption decreases with an
increase in load, and further it is seen that, the BSFC was found to be
the lowest for neat diesel at 25% and 50% of the load. The higher
BSFC in the case of B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend is
due to the lower caloric value of these fuels, compared to neat
diesel. Hence, more quantity of B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina
fuel blend are to be injected to develop the same power output.
However, at 75% and full load conditions the BSFC is minimum in
the case of the D80SBD15E4S1alumina fuel blend. The BSFC is
0.349 kg/kWh, 0.312 kg/kWh and 0.309 kg/kWh respectively for
neat diesel, B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend. A drop of
10.60% and 11.46% was registered at full load, when the engine was

Table 2
Engine specications.
Make
Model
Type
Bore X Stroke (mm)
Compression ratio
Engine Capacity
Rated power
Rated Speed
Start of Injection

Kirloskar
TAF1
Four Stroke, Single Cylinder, Direct Injection,
Air cooled
87.5 X 110
17.5:1
0.661 L
4.4 kW
1500 rpm (constant speed)
23.4 bTDC

fuelled with B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend

respectively, as compared to neat diesel, inspite of the higher
caloric value of neat diesel. The presence of the alumina nanoparticle in the D80SBD15E4S1 fuel blend enhances the combustion
characteristics, due to the large surface area, and hence, the BSFC is
minimum in the case of D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend at
higher load conditions.
The variation of brake specic energy consumption is shown in
Fig. 9. Brake specic energy consumption (BSEC) is an important
parameter, since it is independent of the fuel used, and both density
and the caloric value of the fuel are taken in to account for the
evaluation. The BSEC gives an indication of the input energy
required to develop one unit power output. It is seen from Fig. 9,
that neat diesel requires 6.5 fold heat energy to produce unit power
output at 25% load, whereas the B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina
fuel blend require 8.3, 7.8 fold heat energy respectively, to produce
unit power output. This shows that combustion is not proper at part
load conditions, in the case of B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina
fuel blend. This could be due to the higher viscosity of the fuel, and
the fuel droplet atomization is not efcient in the case of B20 and
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend. However, at higher loads of
75% and full load conditions, the BSEC is minimum (3.53) compared
to B20 (3.7) and neat diesel (4.33). This clearly shows that the high
viscosity in the case of B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel
blend at lower load is overcome, by the decrease in viscosity at
higher temperature in the case of full load condition, and also due
to the presence of the alumina nanoparticle that enhances the atomization rate of the fuel leading to complete combustion.
4.3. Emission characteristics
The exhaust gas temperature is also provided in the initial part
of this section, which gives an indication about the performance of
the engine and certain pollutants. The major pollutants measured,
such as NOx, UBHC, CO and CO2, are presented and discussed.
Fig. 10 shows the variation of exhaust gas temperature for all the
three fuels considered in the present investigation at various
loading conditions. It is seen from the gure that the exhaust gas
temperature for all the fuels tested increase with an increase in
load, due to the increased quantity of fuel burnt, that liberates more
heat at higher loads when compared to lower loads. At all the loads
it is observed that in the case of neat diesel, the exhaust gas temperature is higher than in the case of D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel
blend. On seeing the combustion performance, the maximum heat

T. Shaa, R. Velraj / Renewable Energy 80 (2015) 655e663

Fig. 3. Pressure variations at full load.

Fig. 4. Cylinder peak pressure with load for different fuels.

Fig. 5. Variation of Heat release rate.

Fig. 6. Variation of ignition delay period with load.

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T. Shaa, R. Velraj / Renewable Energy 80 (2015) 655e663

Fig. 7. Variation of brake thermal efciency with load.

release rate was in the case of D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend,

and hence, the exhaust gas temperature also should have been
higher. However, the gure shows that the exhaust gas temperature is lowest for D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend at all loading
conditions. This is due to the higher heat transfer coefcient
involved in the products of combustion with the engine cylinder,
due to the presence of the nanoparticle in the products of combustion. This could also be one of the reasons for the improved
engine performance as the presence of the alumina nanoparticle
reduces the sink temperature.
Oxides of nitrogen are one of the major air pollutants, and they
also contribute to acid rain. Higher combustion temperatures in a
diesel engine lead to higher NOx emission. The variation of NOx
emission for neat diesel, B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel
blend are presented in Fig. 11. It is seen from the gure that the NOx
emission is the same for all the tested fuels at part load condition.
However, beyond 50% of the load the NOx emission is high for B20
and D80SBD15E4S1alumina fuel blend when compared to neat

diesel. The magnitude of NOx emission observed at full load is

1792 ppm for neat diesel, whereas it is 1921 ppm, 1971 ppm for B20
and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend respectively. An
increased emission of 7.2% and 9.9% was observed in the case of B20
and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend respectively, at full load
condition when compared to neat diesel. It is already seen from the
performance results that the heat release is higher at higher load
conditions in the case of B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel
blend, compared to neat diesel that results in higher temperature,
which is the cause for the higher NOx emissions in the case of B20
and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend at higher loads.
The variation of CO with respect to rated load for the tested fuel
is shown in Fig. 12. The emission of CO from a DI diesel engine
depends mostly on the fuel's physical and chemical properties. The
lack of oxygen and low combustion temperature are the main
causes for the CO emission, and lead to incomplete oxidation. It is
seen from the gure that the CO emission is almost the same for
neat diesel and B20 blend. However, in the case of

Fig. 8. Variation of brake specic fuel consumption with load.

Fig. 9. Variation of brake specic energy consumption with load.

T. Shaa, R. Velraj / Renewable Energy 80 (2015) 655e663

661

Fig. 10. Variation of exhaust gas temperature.

Fig. 11. Variation of NOx emission.

D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend, the CO emission is much

higher compared to that of the neat diesel and B20 blend at 25%
load condition, and as the load increases the CO emission decreases,
leading to much lower CO emission at full load condition. The
presence of the alumina nanoparticle hinders the mixing process
due to the fuel e rich operating condition at low load, and due to
the fuel e lean combustion the presence of the nanoparticle enhances the atomization rate at full load, that leads to complete
combustion of the fuel. Hence, the CO emission is higher for
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend by 66% at 25% load, compared
to both B20 and neat diesel, and reduces at full load to the extent of
40% compared to neat diesel and B20 blend.
Though the presence of CO in the exhaust gas reects indirectly
the incomplete combustion of the fuel, the measure of unburnt
hydrocarbon (UBHC) directly indicates the incomplete combustion
of the molecules of fuel. Fig. 13 shows the variation of the UBHC at
various loads for the three fuels considered in the analysis. It is seen
from the gure, that in the case of neat diesel there is a slow and

uniform increase of UBHC as the load increases. This is due to more

quantity of fuel involved in the combustion as the load increases,
though the combustion performance improves as the load increases,
due to the increase in air concentration at higher loads. However, in
the case of the B20 blend and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend
there are small uctuations in the UBHC as the load increases. This is
due to various combinations of parameters that inuence the
complete combustion of the hydrocarbon. The major parameters
that additionally inuence the emission of UBHC in comparison to
neat diesel, are the biodiesel properties such as higher viscosity, and
higher surface tension, and the presence of fatty acids in addition to
the inherent oxygen present in the fuel. Though the negative characteristics of higher viscosity and lower compressibility due to
higher surface tension lead to the higher concentration of UBHC at
lower loads in the case of the B20 blend, the presence of the alumina
nanoparticle in the D80SBD15E4S1 blend increases the surface area
exposure for the fuel droplets, that enhances the combustion leading to lower UBHC compared to the B20 blend. However, at higher

Fig. 12. Variation of CO emission.

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T. Shaa, R. Velraj / Renewable Energy 80 (2015) 655e663

Fig. 13. Variation of UBHC.

Fig. 14. Variation of CO2 emission.

loads the vaporization of the fuel droplets in the later stage, without
participating in the combustion, could also be predicted in the case
of the B20 and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blends due to the
presence of higher UBHC in the exhaust gas.
Fig. 14 shows the percentage of CO2 emission for all the fuels
tested under different loading conditions. It is observed from the
gure that the CO2 variation is not much among the three fuels
considered. At no load condition, the B20 blend has the lowest CO2
emission, and diesel and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend have
marginally higher CO2 emission. However, as the load increases,
this trend is gradually reverses, and at full load, the B20 blend has
2.2% higher emission compared to neat diesel, and the
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend has 3.3% lower emission
compared to neat diesel. At full load, the presence of oxygen in the
B20 blend helps in the complete combustion, which increases the
CO2 emission than that of diesel. However, the presence of the
alumina nanoparticle changes the reaction patterns and heat
transfer rate, that reduce the CO2 percentage in the emission
though the performance is higher at full load.
5. Conclusion
In recent years, a lot of research has been made by various researchers, to use the biodiesel derived from vegetable oil in an
optimum mixing ratio with diesel, to achieve better engine performance and emission characteristics with the aim of reducing the
fossil fuel consumption. The recent pioneering advancement in
nanotechnology made the fuel researchers to search for suitable
nanoadditives as catalysts, to further improve the engine performance and also to reduce the emissions. In this direction, an
attempt is made in the present research to study the combustion,
engine performance and emission characteristics of the two
modied fuels prepared, and a comparison is made with neat

diesel. The results are very encouraging and reported in detail in

this paper. Some of the salient results are summarized below.
The cylinder pressure at full load condition is higher for all the
crank angles during the combustion process, in the case of
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blend, which is due to the higher
surface area exposure of the alumina nanoparticle supported by
the inherent oxygen present in the soybean biodiesel, that helps
in rapid combustion. Hence, the maximum heat release rate is
also higher in the case of the D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel
blend.
The brake specic energy consumption is higher for the B20
and D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blends compared to neat
diesel at 25% and 50% load. However, at higher loads of 75%
and full load, the BSEC is minimum compared to the neat
diesel. This is due to high viscosity in the case of the B20 and
D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel blends at lower load and is
overcome by a decrease in the viscosity at higher temperature, in the case of the full load condition, and also due to
the presence of the alumina nanoparticle. The presence of
the alumina nanoparticle enhances the atomization rate
that facilitates complete combustion, and also increases the
heat transfer from the products of combustion, thereby
reducing the sink temperature, that improves the engine
performance.
There is a considerable reduction in the major pollutants such as
CO, CO2, UBHC in the case of D80SBD15E4S1 alumina fuel
blend, compared to neat diesel at the full load condition, due to
the inherent oxygen present in the soybean biodiesel, as it is
better utilized by the presence of the alumina nanoparticle.
However, this alumina nanoparticle enhances the NOx emission,
due to the maximum cylinder pressure and higher heat release
achieved during the combustion process.

T. Shaa, R. Velraj / Renewable Energy 80 (2015) 655e663

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