Investigation of How Adding Different Nanoparticles to Fuel, Affects Combustion, Fuel Spray Atomization and Emissions of the DI Diesel Engines

One of the novel strategies to improve the performance and emissions of diesel engines is the use of alternative fuels as well as suitable additives such as nanoparticles to diesel fuel. Nanofuels play an important role in the optimization of combustion processes, fuel consumption, and emissions. In this paper, the effect of adding different nanoparticles (cerium, aluminum, and copper oxide nanoparticles) at a concentration of 100 particles per million (ppm) to diesel fuel on the combustion process and emissions of diesel engines has been investigated by using FIRE computational fluid dynamics code. For validation, the in-cylinder pressure variations, the experimental peak pressure, and the angle of occurrence are compared with the numerical results. In addition, the experimental data of NOx, soot, power as well as brake specific fuel consumption were evaluated with numerical values. The results show that nanoparticles increase the amount of heat transfer to the fuel and decrease the ignition delay. Also, better mixing of fuel and air in cerium oxide nanoparticles compared to other nanoparticles improved the fuel ignition mechanism, which leads to more complete combustion and a 14.5% increase in power and also a 6% and 34% reduction in fuel consumption and soot compared to diesel fuel respectively. The only downside is the 31% increase in NOx, which can be reduced by catalytic converters.