Oxygen storage capacity of substituted YBaCo4O7+δ oxygen carriers

Depletion of non-renewable energy sources are at elevated manner due to the rapid growth of industrialization and transportation sector in last few decades and leads to further energy demand. Biodiesels especially second-generation fuels from non-edible oil resources are alternate sources for replacement of diesel fuel in CI engines due to their considerable environmental benefits. In the present work, non-edible feedstock of Calophyllum inophyllum seed oil (tamanu oil) is used for biodiesel production. Transesterification method is used for preparation of biodiesel in the existence of methanol with NaOH as catalyst. The copper nanoparticles are synthesized by electrochemical method, and it is characterized by using X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD and SEM results confirm the presence of copper nanoparticle and size of around 30 nm. This paper aims to investigate the effects of the copper additive nanoparticles with biodiesel blends on the engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics of single-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine and compared that with diesel fuel. The results showed that the addition of nano-additives enhances brake thermal efficiency and reduces specific fuel consumption compared to biodiesel blends but slightly lower than diesel. Combustion characteristics also are enhanced by improved oxidation reaction inside the combustion chamber which resulted in higher heat release rate. The emissions of HC, NO_x and O₂ are significantly reduced for nano-additive blends compared to diesel but increased CO₂ emission was observed. It is noticed that higher CO₂ emission and substantial reduction of unused O₂ emissions from engine fueled with nano-additive are evident for enhanced oxidation and better combustion. Energy and exergy analysis of the diesel engine is carried out to estimate the effect of using nanoparticle additive with biodiesel.

     

Nanofluid in Hydrophilic State for EOR Implication Through Carbonate Reservoir

More than 50% of oil is trapped in petroleum reservoirs after applying primary and secondary recovery methods for removal. Thus, to produce more crude oils from these reservoirs, different enhanced oil recovery (EOR) approaches should be performed. In this research, the effect of hydrophilic nanoparticles of SiO₂ at 12 nm size, in (EOR) from carbonate reservoir is systematically investigated. Using this nanoparticle, we can increase viscosity of the injection fluid and then lower the mobility ratio between oil and nanofluid in carbonate reservoirs. To this end, a core flooding apparatus was used to determine the effectiveness and robustness of nanosilica for EOR from carbonate reservoirs. These experiments are applied on the reservoir carbonate core samples, which are saturated with brine and oil that was injected with nanoparticles of SiO₂ at various concentrations. The output results depict that, with increasing nanoparticle concentration, the viscosity of the injection fluid increases and results in decreased mobility ratio between oil and nanofluid. The results confirm that using the nanoparticle increases the recovery. Also, increasing the nanoparticle concentration up to 0.6% increases the ultimate recovery (%OOIP), but a further increase to 1.0 does not have a significant effect.     

Effect of Experimental Variables on the Combustion Characteristics of Water-in-Diesel Emulsion Fuels

Water-in-diesel (W/D) emulsion fuels were prepared through an ultrasonic processor by using high energy emulsification method. Accordingly, the physical and chemical properties were analyzed. A decrease in viscosity was found in the emulsion fuel in contrast to the neat diesel which signifies the enhanced fluidity of the fuel. The emulsion fuel was then used to carry combustion tests in an internal combustion engine. A decrease in exhaust temperature was observed when a high surfactant to water ratio was used, which lead to minimal heat loss. As water is emulsified with diesel, effectiveness of combustion is improved rather than neat diesel fuel. It was also explored that the addition of water-in-diesel is influential in terms of reduction in exhaust gas emission such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia from the internal combustion engine. Therefore, this type of emulsion fuel would be a useful contribution in the fuel economy, but also in making it environmentally friendly since diesel fuel is now considered one of the leading fuels causing ecological contamination.     

Extended Cauchy Model for Tunable Refractive Index of Titania Nanoparticles at Visible Region

The extended Cauchy model is derived based on the experimental data for describing the mass fraction-, crystallite size-, and calcination-dependent refractive index of anatase and rutile TiO₂ nanoparticles. This model fits the experimental data of TiO₂ nanoparticles well in the visible spectral region. There is a tunable correlation between the refractive index of TiO₂ nanoparticle and the anatase nanoparticle size at visible region. Moreover, there is a near correlation between experimental and calculated Abbe number at 588 nm.     

Experimental study on combustion characteristics of diesel–hydrogen dual-fuel engine

As a clean and sustainable energy source, hydrogen is widely considered as an engine fuel by top researchers. In view of the fact that the uneven fuel mixture of diesel fuel deteriorated the combustion and emissions process, it is expected to adopt diesel and hydrogen dual-fuel combustion technology to optimize combustion and heat release of diesel engine. In this study, experiments are carried out on a diesel engine and the combustion characteristics of the engine with different hydrogen ratios (RH) are compared. It has been found that hydrogen addition is conducive to accelerate the heat release rate and improve the thermal efficiency. Specifically, compared with pure diesel conditions, the peak pressure increased by 7.7% and the cumulative heat release rate increased by 3.7% under the condition of RH of 20%. Moreover, although the effect on the ignition delay period is not clear, the higher RH brings about earlier heat release center and more cumulative heat release while enhancing the heat release of premixed combustion reducing the diffusion combustion and post-combustion.

     

Phase Behavior of Bicontinuous and Water/Diesel Fuel Microemulsions Using Nonionic Surfactants Combined with Hydrophilic Alcohol Ethoxylates

Bicontinuous and water-in-diesel microemulsions were formulated using single nonionic alkyl poly glycol ethers combined with hydrophilic alcohol ethoxylates. The phase behavior at temperatures ranging from 0°C to 50°C was investigated. Visual inspection as well as cross-polarizers were used to detect anisotropy. The fish phase diagrams were determined. The presence of the hydrophilic alcohol ethoxylates was necessary to initiate both types of microemulsions. Increasing the hydrophobic chain length of the surfactant led to a wider range of temperature stability at lower surfactant concentration. Meanwhile, increasing the ethylene oxide units in the headgroup by two units led to a phase diagram that is dominated by lyotropic liquid crystal. The formulated water in diesel microemulsions were tested experimentally in a 4-cylinder diesel engine. From this it is observed that the emissions of NO_x, soot, and CO₂ were reduced substantially compared to neat diesel, while for the CO the reduction occurs just at low load.      

Sulfur impact on diesel emission control- A review

The effect of sulfur on diesel emission control is reviewed in this paper. Diesel exhaust differs from that of petrol engine exhaust in two major characteristics. Firstly, diesel exhaust contains a far higher amount of particulate matter, and secondly, the exhaust is far leaner, that is, far more oxidizing than a typical exhaust from petrol engines. Under these conditions, the conventional three-way catalysts are not effective in reducing NO_x . Emission from diesel engines is a complex phenomenon. The composition, the properties and the amount of these emissions depend on strictly technical parameters such as engine design and engine operation characteristics and on fuel and lube oil composition. Diesel fuel contains a small amount of sulfur which has an adverse effect even on the raw particulate emissions. The investigations on the effect of sulfur on hydrocarbons, CO and NO_x abatement in diesel exhaust gas is reviewed together with the newest technologies to avoid catalyst deactivation by unwanted SO₂ reactions.     

Estimation of thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol-based nanofluid with hybrid suspensions of SWCNT–Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> nanoparticles by correlation and ANN methods using experimental data

In the present paper, the effects of temperature and volume fraction on thermal conductivity of SWCNT–Al₂O₃/EG hybrid nanofluid are investigated. Single-walled carbon nanotube with outer diameter of 1–2 nm and aluminum oxide nanoparticles with mean diameter of 20 nm with the ratio of 30 and 70%, respectively, were dispersed in the base fluid. The measurements were conducted on samples with volume fractions of 0.04, 0.08, 0.15, 0.3, 0.5, 0.8, 1.5 and 2.5. In order to investigate the effects of temperature on thermal conductivity of the nanofluid, this characteristic was measured in five different temperatures of 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 °C. The results indicate that enhancement of nanoparticles’ thickness in low volume fractions and at any temperature causes a considerable increment in thermal conductivity of the nanofluid. In this study, the highest enhancement of thermal conductivity was 41.2% which was achieved at the temperature of 50 °C and volume fraction of 2.5%. Based on the experimental data, an experimental correlation and a neural network are presented and for thermal conductivity of the nanofluid in terms of volume fraction and temperature. Comparing outputs of the experimental correlation and the designed artificial neural network with experimental data, the maximum error values for the experimental correlation and the artificial neural network were, respectively, 2.6 and 1.94% which indicate the excellent accuracy of both methods in prediction of thermal conductivity.     

F-T柴油在直喷式柴油机中燃烧与排放特性的研究

煤通过Fischer-Tropsch (F-T)合成可得到十六烷值高、硫和芳香烃质量分数极低的F-T柴油。研究分析了未作改动的单缸直喷式柴油机燃用F-T柴油时的燃烧和排放特性。结果表明,与燃用0号柴油相比,燃用F-T柴油时的滞燃期平均缩短18.7%,预混燃烧放热峰值降低26.8%,扩散燃烧放热峰值较高,燃烧持续期相当。燃用F-T柴油时的最高燃烧压力略低,最大压力升高率显著下降,机械损失和燃烧噪音较小,燃油消耗率和热效率都得到显著改善。燃用F-T柴油可同时降低CO、HC、NOx和炭烟排放,其中NOx和炭烟分别平均降低16.7%和40.3%。研究表明,F-T柴油是柴油机良好的清洁代用燃料。     

Investigation on the performance,emissions and combustion characteristics of CRDI engine fueled with tallow methyl ester biodiesel blends with exhaust gas recirculation

This paper demonstrates the study of performance, combustion and emission characteristics of a common rail diesel injection (CRDI) engine with the influence of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) (5, 15 and 25%) at various fuel injection pressures (400, 500 and 600 bar) under the effective load conditions (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%). The experiments were carried out in a controlled manner using the CRDI engine fuelled with 80% (D80) diesel (98% purity) blended with 20% (B20) tallow biodiesel. The engine has been operated at a rated speed of 1500 rpm on all load conditions, fuel injection timings of 10°, 15° and 20° bTDC, fuel injection pressures of 400, 500 and 600 bar, respectively. Combustion-influenced performance characteristics such as variation of in-cylinder pressure and net heat release rate in J deg^?1 are also studied with the above operating conditions. It was observed that the usage of 20% biofuel blend shows considerable improvement in combustion, and it further enhances with an increase in the injection pressures. Besides, EGR (up to 25%) reduced significant pollutants at higher operating pressures (600 bar) at higher load conditions. It was also observed that CO₂ emission increased with increase in the % EGR with an increase in the load conditions. However, for CO emission increased up to 50% load condition and subsequently tends to decrease due to improved combustion at higher load; hence higher temperature. NO_x, smoke opacity continue to increase with the increase in pressure and the percentage increase in EGR due to its attainment of adiabatic temperature, which leads to the pathway for the Zeldovich mechanism. The present work shows light on the usage of tallow methyl ester produced from the wastes in the tannery industry as alternate biofuel operating the CRDI engines without compromising its combustion and emission characteristics to deliver the same power as petro-diesel.

     

Pilot-Scale Aftertreatment Using Nonthermal Plasma Reduction of Adsorbed NOx in Marine Diesel-Engine Exhaust Gas

Regulations governing marine diesel engine NO_x emissions have recently become more stringent. As it is difficult to fulfill these requirements by combustion improvements alone, effective aftertreatment technologies are needed to achieve efficient NO_x reductions. In this study, we develop an effective NO_x-reduction aftertreatment system for a marine diesel engine that employs combined nonthermal plasma (NTP) and adsorption. Compared with selective catalytic reduction, the proposed technology offers the advantages of not requiring a urea solution or harmful heavy-metal catalysts and low operating temperatures of less than 150 °C. The NO_x reduction comprises repeated adsorption and desorption flow processes using NTP combined with NO_x adsorbents made of MnO_x–CuO. High concentrations of NO_x are treated by NTP after NO_x adsorption and desorption, and this aftertreatment system demonstrates excellent energy efficiencies of 161 g(NO₂)/kWh, which fulfills the most recent International Maritime Organization emission NO_x standards in the Tier II–III regulations for 2016 and requires only 4.3 % of the engine output power.     

Application of Plasma Fuel Reformer to an On-Board Diesel Burner

A conventional diesel burner has arisen several shortcomings, such a large supply of air for a stoichiometric combustion, and a long heat-up time to reach the light-off temperature of catalyst in a diesel after-treatment system. This study shows a promising potential of using a plasma reformer for staged diesel combustion with minimized air and fuel consumption, and increased the flame stability with low NOx emission. A working principle of a plasma fuel reformer for staged combustion is explained in detail by both visualizing the plasma-assisted flame and analyzing the gas products. The concentrations of H₂, CO, NOx and the unburned total hydrocarbons were measured by gas chromatography and a commercial gas analyzer. Considering the operating condition of diesel exhaust gas is too harsh to maintain a stable diesel flame with a conventional diesel burner, plasma fuel reformer has distinctive advantages in stable flame anchoring under the condition of low oxygen concentration and fast flow speed. The re-ignition and stable flame anchoring by entrapment of oxygen in exhaust gas is mainly attributed to the low ignition energy and high diffusion velocity of hydrogen molecule. From an economic point of view, plasma reformer is also the only technology which can use only 1/3–1/8 of the air required for the stoichiometric burning of a conventional diesel burner. A conventional burner was simulated and analyzed to consume up to 30 % more fuel compared to the plasma reformer with the staged combustion to get the same level of temperature elevation in a real diesel engine scale.     

Experimental Study of Heat Transfer of a Car Radiator with CuO/Ethylene Glycol-Water as a Coolant

Conventional heat transfer fluids such as water and ethylene glycol (EG) can be used for cooling fluids in car radiators, and have relatively poor heat transfer performance. One method for increasing heat transfer in car radiators uses nanofluids. Nanofluids as a new technology are obtained by dispersing nanoparticles on the base fluids. In the present study, CuO (60 nm) nanoparticles were used in a mixture of water/EG as a base fluid. Then, the thermal performance of a car radiator was studied. The experiment was performed for different volumetric concentrations (0.05–0.8 vol%) of nanofluids of different flow rates (4–8 lit/min) and inlet temperatures (35, 44, 54°C). The results showed that nanofluids clearly enhanced heat transfer compared to the base fluid. In the best condition, the heat transfer coefficient enhancement of about 55% compared to the base fluid was recorded.     

Pressure Drop and Performance Characteristics of Water-Based Al2O3 and CuO Nanofluids in a Triangular Duct

An experimental study is performed to determine the pressure drop and performance characteristics of Al₂O₃/water and CuO/water nanofluids in a triangular duct under constant heat flux where the flow is laminar. The effects of adding nanoparticles to the base fluid on the pressure drop and friction factor are investigated at different Reynolds numbers. The results show that at a specified Reynolds number, using the nanofluids can lead to an increase in the pressure drop by 35%. It is also found that with increases in the Reynolds number, the rate of increase in the friction factor with the volume fraction of nanoparticles is reduced. Finally, the performance characteristics of the two nanofluids are investigated using the data of pressure drop and convective heat transfer coefficient. The results show that the use of Al₂O₃/water nanofluid with volume fractions of 1.5% and 2% is not helpful in the triangular duct. It is also concluded that at the same volume fraction of nanoparticles, using Al₂O₃ nanoparticles is more beneficial than CuO nanoparticles based on the performance index.     

Biofuels–Renewable Energy Sources: A Review

Biodiesel is biodegradable and nontoxic, and it significantly reduces toxic and other emissions when burned as a fuel. The advantages of biodiesel as diesel fuel are its portability, ready availability, renewability, higher combustion efficiency, non-toxicity, higher flash point, and lower sulfur and aromatic content, higher cetane number, and higher biodegradability. The major disadvantages of biodiesel are its higher viscosity, lower energy content, higher cloud point and pour point, higher nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions, lower engine speed and power, injector coking, engine compatibility, high price, and greater engine wear. The technical disadvantages of biodiesel/fossil diesel blends include problems with fuel freezing in cold weather, reduced energy density, and degradation of fuel under storage for prolonged periods. The sources of biodiesel are vegetable oils and fats. The direct use of vegetable oils and/or oil blends is generally considered to be unsatisfactory and impractical for both direct injection and indirect type diesel engines because of their high viscosities and low volatilities injector coking and trumpet formation on the injectors, higher level of carbon deposits, oil ring sticking, and thickening and gelling of the engine lubricant oil, acid composition. Biodiesel is obtained by transesterifying triglycerides with methanol. A popular variation of the batch transesterification process which needs high alcohol/acid ratio (several separation problems and high corrosivity and toxicity) is the use of continuous stirred tank reactors in series. This continuous process is heterogeneous and is based on reactive distillation. The key factor is the selection of the right and effective solid catalyst which leads to reduction of energy consumption and investments at all.     

Formation of Particle Coated Fusiform Droplets via Lowering Interface Tension with Polyaluminum Sulfate

It was found that the interface tension between water and alkenyl succinic anhydride (ASA) was significantly reduced by polyaluminum sulfate (PAS), increased considerably though by TiO₂ nanoparticle. PAS with basicity of 0.75 (PAS-0.75) reduced the interface tension to a larger extent than PAS with basicity of 0.3 (PAS-0.3). By reducing interface tension with PAS-0.75, ASA-in-water emulsion bearing fusiform geometries was constructed. The emulsion stabilized by PAS-0.3 and TiO₂ nanoparticle bore spherical shapes with the exception when mass fraction of TiO₂ nanoparticle was low, in which case fused nonspherical drops were formed. Forming nonspherical emulsion crucially depends on ASA-water interface tension, where a critical interface tension was identified to be 0.6–0.7 mN/m. The fusiform geometries were transformed into spherical shapes when interface tension was higher than 0.7 mN/m. Both the lowering mechanism of the interface tension and the formation mechanism of the fusiform emulsion were proposed.      

Synthesis of CaWO4:Er3+@SiO2 and CaWO4:Tm3+@SiO2 nano-particles via a combustion pathway and study of their optical properties

Use of citric acid as a chelating agent and fuel, ammonium nitrate as fuel, boric acid as flux material and silica as supports, CaWO₄:Ln³⁺@SiO₂ (Ln = Er and Tm) nanoparticles were synthesized via a combustion reaction at 800 °C. Characterization of the samples was performed by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), reflectance UV–Vis spectrophotometer, fluorescence spectrophotometer (PL) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). XRD patterns showed that tetragonal crystalline structure of scheelite and silica supports were formed, and that the formation of a silica support could enhance the luminescence intensity of CaWO₄:Ln³⁺. The reflectance UV–Vis and PL spectra indicated the broad absorption band of WO₄ ^2? groups about 240 nm, the WO₄ ^2? wide excitation band with maximum at 240 nm, a broad emission band of WO₄ ^2? with maximum about 420 nm, and characteristic emissions of Ln³⁺ ions. According to the TEM analysis, CaWO₄:Er³⁺@SiO₂ and CaWO₄:Tm³⁺@SiO₂ nanoparticles have almost the same morphology with average particle sizes about 50 nm.     

Effect of Nanoparticle Hydrophobicity on Stability of Highly Concentrated Emulsions

The effect of hydrophobicity index (HI) of fumed nanosilica specimens on stability of water-in-oil (W/O) highly concentrated emulsions (HCE with ? = 90 vol%) with an overcooled dispersed phase was studied. A series of five silica with HI in the 0.60–1.34 range and HI > 3 were used separately and in combination with a low molecular weight traditional surfactant, Sorbitan MonoOleate (SMO). First, it was shown that SMO alone can stabilize W/O HCE whereas only silica nanoparticles with intermediate HI in the range 0.97 ≤ HI ≤ 1.34 could form W/O emulsions only up to 77–79 vol%. Then, on the contrary to SMO-based emulsions, Pickering emulsions are unstable under shearing. When mixed (silica plus SMO) emulsifier systems were used, firstly a thermodynamic consideration revealed that only SMO is likely to adsorb at the W/O interface and controls the emulsifying process by the decrease in the interfacial tension. Then, interestingly, all different kinds of emulsion stability investigated in this study demonstrate a breaking point (BP) at HI = 0.97. Below the BP the emulsions were found to be very unstable on shelf as well as under shear. Above the BP, a clear synergy between colloidal silica and SMO surfactant has been found.      

Liquid–Air Interface Self-Assembly of Nanoparticles Synthesized from Reaction Between Fe(dbm)<Subscript>3</Subscript> and Pt(acac)<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The liquid–air interface is demonstrated as a method to assemble nanoparticles synthesized from the reaction between iron (III) dibenzoylmethane (Fe(dbm)₃) and platinum acetylacetonate (Pt(acac)₂) into a long range monolayer. These surface-modified particles have average Fe to Pt atomic ratio of 0.77:1. The increase in surfactants further reduces the Fe:Pt ratio and increases the particle diameter to over 4 nm. The self-assembled pattern of FePt-based nanoparticles can be enhanced by dropping nanoparticle suspensions on the surface of diethelyne glycol (DEG). The concentrations of these nanoparticle suspensions in hexane from 0.2 to 0.4 mg/ml can be used without the agglomeration into multilayered islands. The voids in the self-assembled monolayer on the DEG-air interface are reduced to the minimum in the case of the lowest concentration.     

Facile Synthesis of Amino Shell-Magnetic Core Nanoparticles and Application for Direct Electrochemistry

This paper reports a core-shell nanoparticle system coated on the carbon paste electrode (CPE) for determination of hydrogen peroxide. The amino-functionalized shell-magnetic core nanoparticles have been proven to be an effective material for Hb immobilization. The core-shell nanoparticle system was constructed by immobilizing hemoglobin (Hb) on amino-functionalized shell@magnetic core composite nanoparticles (NH₂-SiO₂-CoFe₂O₄) with the bridge of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and chronoamperometry were used to characterize the obtained biosensor. The Hb/AuNPs/NH₂-SiO₂-CoFe₂O₄/CPE showed a linear range from 1.9 × 10^?6 to 4.6 × 10^?3 M, with a detection limit of 6.3 × 10^?7 M (S/N = 3) under the optimized experimental conditions. A good affinity was shown due to the small apparent Michaelis–Menten constant of 2.68 mM.