Study on the Possibility of Improving the Environmental Performance of Diesel Engine Using Carbon Nanotubes as a Petroleum Diesel Fuel Additive

Abstract

The relevance of this article is due to the need for improving indicators of exhaust gas toxicity of diesel engines. One of the modern directions of achieving the required environmental performance of diesel engines is the addition of various nanomaterials to petroleum diesel fuel. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of improving the environmental performance of a diesel engine for a generator set using carbon nanotubes as an additive to petroleum diesel fuel in an amount of up to 500 mg/L. Experimental studies were carried out on a D-243 diesel engine operating in a wide range of loads from idle to full load with the addition of 125, 250, and 500 mg/L of carbon nanotubes in the diesel fuel. The mixing of petroleum diesel fuel with nanotubes was done using an ultrasonic unit. The possibility of improving the environmental performance of the studied diesel engine fueled with carbon nanotube-blended petroleum diesel fuel was examined. Results showed that, in the full-load mode of diesel operation, the addition of 500 mg/L of carbon nanotubes to diesel fuel enabled the engine to reduce exhaust smoke from 26.0% to 11.2% on the Hartridge scale.

Keywords

• diesel engine
• petroleum diesel fuel
• carbon nanotubes
• exhaust emissions
• exhaust smoke