Study of Characterization of Nano-additives and Its Impact on the Diesel Engine Characteristics Fueled with Ternary Biodiesel Blend

<div>The present work deals with the effects of nano-additives on ternary blend biodiesel fuel added in diesel engine. The ternary blend comprises of mustard oil biodiesel and rice bran oil biodiesel, synthesized by means of transesterification and diesel. Nano-additives used in the current study include carbon nanotubes (CNT) and MgO/MgAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> spinel, which were added in a suitable concentration to the biodiesel. CNTs were procured from the market and MgO/MgAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> spinel was prepared by co-precipitation via ball milling process. The nano-additives were characterized by means of FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), AFM (atomic force microscopy), and DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) analysis. Biodiesel blend samples were prepared such as B20 (20% biodiesel + 80% diesel), B20 + CNT (1000 PPM), B20+MgO/MgAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> spinel (1000 PPM), and B20+CNT+MgO/MgAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> spinel (1000 PPM) were tested against diesel fuel. The maximum increase in brake thermal efficiency (BTE), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and the maximum reduction in brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), and smoke was observed for B20+CNT+MgO/MgAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> at full load conditions when compared to B20. B20+CNT+MgO/MgAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> indicated the maximum advancement of mass fraction burned (MFB) 50% compared to other fuel blends, which is reflected in the other performance, emission, and combustion characteristics. The highest peak cylinder pressure (P<sub>cyl</sub>) was recorded for B20+MgO/MgAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> despite the presence of large quantity of oxygen, which reduced slightly (0.63%) due to the addition of CNT. The highest heat release rate (HRR) was recorded for B20+MgO/MgAl<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> in spite of presence of large quantity of oxygen which reduced slightly (1.73%) due to the addition of CNT.</div>