Process Safety and Environmental Protection, cilt.194, ss.360-381, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
Development of alternative fuels from organic waste for the applications in CI diesel engines is an important research area for a sustainable energy future. In CI diesel engines, binary and ternary fuel blends can be prepared by blending fossil diesel fuel with biodiesel and alcohols. In recent years, various fuel blends have been improved with different metal or non-metal nanoparticles. In this work, non-metallic Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNPs) were added to ternary fuel blends, followed by the characterization of the prepared samples. Subsequently, an investigation was conducted to examine their effects in engine performance and exhaust emissions. In this study, ternary blends were prepared by adding biodiesel obtained from the recycling of waste cooking oils and 10 %, 15 %, and 20 % butanol to diesel fuel. Subsequently, 50 ppm of GNPs were added to these blends. Initially, the chemical properties of all fuel blends, such as cetane index, calorific value, density, and kinematic viscosity, were analyzed. Additionally, TG, DSC, FTIR, UV–VIS, and GS-FID characterizations were conducted for all fuel samples. Afterwards, engine performance, combustion characteristics, and exhaust emissions were performed. A total of 7 distinct fuel samples were employed in the engine testing procedure, wherein the engine was operated at 2 different speeds and 5 engine loads. The experiment results indicated that the lowest BSFC values occurred in diesel fuel under all conditions. With the addition of GNPs to the ternary fuels, the BSFC value decreased by an average of 1.11 % at 1500 rpm and 1.89 % at 2000 rpm for all loads. Upon analysis of BTE values, it was revealed that diesel fuel had the greatest BTE value. The incorporation of GNPs into the ternary blends resulted in an average enhancement in BTE values of 1.40 % at 1500 rpm and 2.60 % at 2000 rpm at all loads. The examination of the in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate indicated that the incorporation of GNPs led to a little decrease in the duration of the ignition delay. In the examination of NOx emissions, the inclusion of GNPs resulted in an average increase in emissions of 9.89 % at 1500 rpm and 5.37 % at 2000 rpm at all loads. Furthermore, when analyzing CO2 emissions, with the exception of non-load conditions, the incorporation of GNPs resulted in an average rise of 3.10 % in CO2 emissions at 1500 rpm and 3.55 % at 2000 rpm at all load conditions. The study revealed that fuel samples exhibited qualities close to those of diesel fuel standards.