Investigations on a novel fuel water hyacinth biodiesel and Hydrogen-Powered engine in Dual-Fuel Model: Optimization with I-optimal design and desirability

Abstract

Hydrogen is one of the most promising green fuels. The present study explores the potential of novel water hyacinth biodiesel as pilot fuel as well as investigates the influence of the injection pressure of pilot fuel on the performance of hydrogen running a dual-fuel diesel engine. For experimentation, a 4.8 kW research test engine was considered. Three fuel injection pressure (FIP) of the pilot fuel, namely 220 bar, 240 bar, and 260 bar were considered at a ratio of compression as 17.5 and standard injection timing of 23° before Top Dead Centre (bTDC) for different loading conditions were considered. The peak brake thermal efficiency (BTE) under dual fuel mode (DFM) was observed as 26.77%, 28.11%, and 27.21% for FIP of the pilot fuel of 220 bar, 240 bar, and 260 bar, respectively in comparison to 25.11% for biodiesel mode at 100% load. The maximum drop in carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions was found to be 15.48%, and 35.7%, respectively for the FIP of the pilot fuel of 240 bar under DFM in comparison to biodiesel mode. The fall in Oxides of Nitrogen (NOX) emission under DFM was found to be 23.66% for the FIP of the pilot fuel of 220 bar under DFM compared to biodiesel mode. Based on the performance and emission analysis, the optimum FIP of the pilot fuel is found to be 240 bar. For the same FIP, the maximum liquid fuel replacement of 85% was obtained. The experimental study’s data were evaluated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) to create models in the form of mathematical expressions for each outcome. The desirability approach was employed to optimize the operating settings for maximum performance while emitting the least amount of emission. According to the desirability-based optimization research, ideal operating conditions were 83.61% engine load and 242 bar FIP, resulting in engine performance of 26.5% of BTE, 80.47% of LFR, and 51.82 bar peak cylinder pressure. The emission levels were 191.19 ppm of NOX, 106.41 ppm of HC, and 130.95 ppm of CO at this setting. A model validation test found that the model-predicted values were within 6% of the observed values.