Sustainable nano-added biofuel production from borassus flabellifer oil for conventional internal combustion engines

Abstract

The source of biodiesel production is significant as the demand for diesel is very high. Sustainable fuel development is the prime aim of meeting the demand. Drought-tolerant trees are widely available and can cultivate more to increase the feedstock capacity. Hence, this experimental research investigates the potential for deriving an alternative fuel from borassus flabellifer. Accordingly, this research employed biodiesel production from borassus flabellifer oil through the transesterification technique with methanol at 65 °C of temperature for 3 h with 300 rpm of magnetic stirrer speed. The blends by volume of 20% biodiesel of borassus flabellifer (20BOPP) and 80% of diesel (80D) were used to create the Biodiesel of borassus flabellifer blend (20BOPP+80D). Then it is enhanced by mixing 100 ppm of aluminium oxide nanoparticles (AONP) in that fuel to produce the nano-fuel of 20BOPP+80D + AONP. The base fuel (20BOPP) is enhanced by preparing a new blend of 20% ethanol (20 E) and 60% diesel added with 20BOPP to produce 20BOPP+20E+60D and then the new class of fuel enhanced by AONP to produce 20BOPP+20E+60D + AONP. The nano-fuel was prepared with the help of an ultrasonicator. The prepared blends and conventional diesel fuel were tested at varying engine loads, and the results revealed that the enhanced nonfuel of 20BOPP+20E+60D + AONP produced equivalent brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of 31.94% like diesel fuel, reducing the emission nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 29.2% and emission of Carbon Monoxide (CO) emission by 11.4% to pure diesel fuel. The enhanced nano-fuel of 20BOPP+20E+60D + AONP reduced smoke opacity by 35.3% more than pure diesel. Hence the mixing of both alcohol and nanoparticles in the biodiesel blend produces better results at maximum load conditions than their performance mixing individually in the biodiesel blend due to the alcohol's higher volatility and nanoparticles catalytic reaction during combustion in the Direct-Injection Compression Ignition (DICI) engine due to the alcohol's higher volatility and nanoparticles catalytic reaction during combustion stage.