Regular Article

Processing on Curcuma longa waste oil-diesel blends for using as better alternative to diesel fuel

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Trichy 620015, India
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Engineering College, Kovilpatti 628503, India
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore 641013, India

^* Corresponding author: moshibeo2010@gmail.com

Received: 30 December 2021
Accepted: 11 July 2022

Abstract

Technology advancements are growing in an exponential rate. Automobile sector is getting developed day by day where modern innovations are viewed with different features for the human society. Inspite of having various renewable energy sources, the demand for the fossil fuels still exists for meeting out the requirements of the growing application sides. In the present work, different blends of Curcuma longa waste neat oil samples have been prepared and mixed with diesel at different volume fractions. Nano metal oxide particles such as cerium oxide and Nano Egg Shell Powder (NESP) have been added with the prepared fuel samples in order to achieve better evaporation, atomization, better air-fuel mixing, considerable reduction in ignition delay and best flame sustainability nature. The prepared waste oil samples have been tested under four different loading conditions such as 30, 60, 90 and 120 N. The performance characteristics such as Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE), Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC), Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT), % of carbon monoxide emission, % of carbon dioxide emission, % of hydrocarbon emission and % of NO_X emission have been measured for the tested blends. From the results, the optimal sample which exhibits improved desirable characteristics has been suggested. Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) has also been used as a multi objective optimization tool in order to find out the best composition of the Curcuma longa waste oil – diesel blend in order to achieve better desirable properties. ANOVA technique has been used to identify the most influencing input factor in achieving better characteristics for the oil blends.