Effective utilization of mahua oil blended with optimum amount of Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ nanoparticles for better performance...

The current research work focuses mainly on improving the performance and emission characteristics of nanoparticle-blended mahua oil-fueled diesel engine. This work concentrates on finding the optimum quantity of nanoparticles to be blended with mahua oil so that it can be effectively deployed in compression ignition (CI) engine. A 4-stroke diesel engine with 3.7 kW at 1500 rpm was employed in this research. The two nanoparticles, Al₂O₃ and TiO₂, were used in this experiment to blend with mahua oil. The nanoparticles of different concentrations, such as 25, 50, 75, and 100 ppm, were blended with mahua oil to test the performance. Based on the stability, the optimum blend was chosen. The mahua oil was emulsified in order to further enhance the optimum performance of the nanoparticle-blended mahua oil. The nanoparticles act as a combustion enhancer and aggravate the combustion process. The nanoparticle-blended emulsified mahua oil showed better performance and reduced emissions. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) values of 100 ppm Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ blended emulsified mahua oil (EMO) were 29.2% and 28.4% respectively, while in case of diesel and mahua oil, the values were 31.4% and 23.8% respectively. The smoke value for EMO with 100 ppm Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ was found to have decreased by 61.9% and 59.4% respectively compared with mahua oil. The hydrocarbon (HC) emissions for EMO with 100 ppm Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ were found to have decreased by 37.3% and 32.96% respectively.