Water-in-Diesel Emulsions as Alternative Fuel for Diesel Engines. Part I: Water-in-Diesel Emulsions. A Literature Review

Abstract

Although emulsions have found numerous and various applications in chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries, emulsions of water in diesel fuel are applicable alternative fuels for the existing diesel engines. Water-in-diesel emulsion fuel can improve the combustion efficiency of a diesel engine and reduce harmful exhaust emission, especially nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. In general, due to the lower heating values of water-in-diesel emulsion fuels, torque and power produced by diesel engines fueled with emulsified fuels are lower as compared to the neat diesel fuel. The heterogeneous results regarding the use of water-in-diesel emulsions as fuel for diesel engines suggest that more experimental work for optimizing the emulsion formulation is recommended.

Keywords

• water-in-diesel emulsion
• diesel engines
• combustion
• emissions