Enhancing sustainable fuel solutions: Castor oil biodiesel with nanoparticles and ammonia, utilizing as a green substitute for diesel engines

Ammonia is one of the promising alternatives towards the carbon free economy and highly known for its potential NOx reduction and efficiency improvement. This study investigated various performance and emissions characteristics of engines using different fuel blends such as C20, C20N50, C20N100, C20N50A, C20N100A. The blends are mixed with nanoparticles at the two different fashions of 50 ppm and 100 ppm. Added to above, the ammonia gas effects on the blends were also analyzed. In the entire study the flow rate of the ammonia maintained constant at the rate of 10 LPM. Test were conducted in the all blends across the wide range of engine loads varying at the intervals of 25 %. Inclusion of the nanoparticles enhances the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) by stimulating the combustion process. Increasing the nanoparticle concentration led to higher brake specific fuel consumption. C20 reported the highest BSFC value at 0.39 kg/kWh. C20N100 had the highest BTE values due to an increase in nanoparticle concentration, resulting in enhanced thermal efficiency. The addition of 50 ppm and 100 ppm nanoparticles to C20 biodiesel led to increase in BTE across varies engine load. Inclusion of the nanoparticles increased the exhaust gas temperature due to the enhanced combustion process. Regarding the emission, there is a massive reduction in the carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon emission, smoke opacity and nitrogen of oxides. Biodiesel increased the emission of NOx at wide range of engine loads. However, there is a slight reduction upon use of the nanoparticles.