Investigation of the NOx and PM emissions from a diesel engine operating on nanoemulsified fuels

Abstract

Driven in part by concerns regarding global wanning, there is a clear trend towards increased usage of compression ignition vehicles running on diesel fuel. Use of diesel fuel has a downside, namely relatively high oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions. Emulsified fuel is a mixture of water and diesel fuel. Quantum Energy Technologies Corporation (QET) have developed nanoemulsified fuels that contain water clusters in the nanometer size range. The main benefits claimed for these fuels are reduced emissions of PM and NOx without any decrease in engine performance levels compared to conventional diesel fuels. This work investigates these benefits by running different base diesels and nanoemulsions with varying water content in a single cylinder direct injection Ricardo Hydra engine. The effect of water addition on the base diesel is modeled using a previously verified model of the test engine. The experimental and modeling results are compared to published results for conventional microemulsions. There is no decrease in indicated fuel conversion efficiency for the nanoemulsions. Fer a 9% water nanoemulsion specific NOx emissions are reduced by l 3 - 20% and specific PM emissions are reduced by 15 - 20% compared to the base diesel. However, these fuels do not exhibit any significant emissions improvement over conventional microemulsions.