Effect of Carbon Nanotubes on Oxygenated Jojoba Biodiesel-Diesel Blends in Direct Injection CI Engines

Scarcity and inflated cost of petroleum reserves along with environmental pollution concerns urged the researchers to identify a better alternative source of eco-friendly bio-energy. In this study, oxygenated biodiesel derived from Jojoba oil was used in a compression ignition engine to analyse the engine characteristics in the presence of multi-walled carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) at 50 ppm, 100 ppm and 150 ppm concentrations. Taguchi’s approach based experimentation identified the stability of modified fuel blends ratios of n-butanol, biodiesel and MWCNT. The Jojoba biodiesel was characterized using FTIR and GC MS techniques to understand the presence of fatty acid methyl esters in the biodiesel. Higher brake thermal efficiency and significant reduction in specific fuel consumption were observed in fuel blend with MWCNT. D70JJBD20O10CNT100 showed higher in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate due to micro-explosion of carbon nanotubes at full load condition. The ignition delay was also significantly affected with the addition of MWCNT. The exhaust emission like un-burned hydrocarbon, oxides of carbon, oxides of nitrogen and smoke exhibited noticeable variations with the modified fuel blends.