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In the present study, a high-viscous biofuel, namely wheat germ oil (WGO), and a low-viscous biofuel, namely pine oil (PO), are used in a twin-cylinder diesel engine. The fuel ionization filter is fitted with a permanent magnet, an electromagnet, and the combination of permanent magnet and electromagnet, and their effect on the engine performance, emission, and combustion is studied. A fuel ionization filter placed in the fuel line, before the injection pump, ionizes the fuel molecules and increases the rate of disintegration of droplets due to a decrease in viscosity and surface tension. The tests are performed at a constant engine speed of 1500 rpm with loads varying from no load to full load at intervals of 25%. As compared to diesel, the engine operation with ionization filter increased brake thermal efficiency and reduced the fuel consumption for both PO and WGO. The increase in brake thermal efficiency is in the order: permanent magnet, electromagnet, and combination of electromagnet and permanent magnet. The magnetic field strength of electromagnet is higher than permanent magnet which tends to increase the ionization of the fuel. When both the magnets are combined, the magnetic field strength further increases resulting in more ionization of the fuel. It is also perceived that magnetic effect reduces the viscosity of the fuel. Regulated emissions, namely unburned hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and smoke emissions, reduced, whereas NOx emissions increased with WGO and ionization filter. With pine oil and ionization filter, all the regulated emissions decreased as compared to neat pine oil. The reduction in HC, CO, and smoke emissions was highest for combination of electromagnet and permanent magnet followed by electromagnet and permanent magnet. The study shows that combination of permanent magnet and electromagnet resulted in the best engine performance and emission characteristics.

Biodiesel is an alternative sustainable energy source and can be utilized in the compression ignition engine without any changes in the engine design. This research work focuses on the preparation of Calophyllum inophyllum methyl ester through two steps of transesterification process and its implementation in common rail direct injection diesel engines under various fuel injection strategies. At the initial stage of the current research work, two biodiesel blends of 10 vol% and 20 vol% with remaining quantity as diesel have been used as fuel in a diesel engine at a fuel injection pressure of 600 bar at 5%, 10% and 15% pilot injection variations. In the second stage, the study has been extended for the same strategies of injecting the fuel at the rates of 10% and 20% exhaust gas recirculation. All the experimental results are compared with diesel fuel at an injection pressure of 600 bar with 10% pilot injection. The experimental results revealed that an increase in the blend ratio of biodiesel enhances the combustion, performance characteristics and proliferation of pilot injection from 5 to 15% facilitates spontaneous and complete combustion. It is observed that 15% pilot injection quantity of 20 vol% Calophyllum inophyllum methyl ester blend has shown the best performance among the test samples with other injection strategies. The results also showed that the implementation of exhaust gas recirculation at 10% and 20% rates during diesel engine operation is evident in lower performance characteristics with a significant impact on oxides of nitrogen and carbon dioxide emissions.Graphic abstract

Rapid depletion of fossil fuels and stringent emission regulations compel the scientific community to search for alternative energy sources for the internal combustion engines. Among many alternative biofuels, ethanol is getting worldwide attention for compression ignition engine either in the form of partial substitute or complete replacement for diesel fuel. Ethanol fuel has certain undesirable properties like poor flammability limit which results in cold starting issues and higher hydrocarbon emission which restricts their use in compression ignition engine. This issue can be easily overcome by preheating of ethanol fuel before it gets admitted inside the engine cylinder. In the present study, a standard preheating device is designed and fabricated in accordance with engine specifications and simulations were carried out under various operating conditions to evaluate its performance. Furthermore, experimental investigations were carried out in a compression ignition engine fueled with ethanol blends of 20 and 30% with diesel by volume and the fuel blends were preheated using burned exhaust gases. In addition, a comparative study has been carried out for preheated and non-preheated blends of E20 (20% of ethanol and 80% of diesel) and E30 with baseline diesel. The experimental results show that the preheated E20 (20% of ethanol and 80% of diesel) blend has higher brake thermal efficiency of 36.28% with a significant reduction in brake specific fuel consumption when compared with all the other blends. Moreover, the preheated E20 blend reduces the carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbon and smoke emissions by 49, 48 and 10%, respectively. However, the NOx emission is increased by 6% as compared to the non-preheating effect. It is also noted that the preheating of ethanol blends produced better combustion results with a significant reduction in the ignition delay period. Hence, it can be concluded that the ethanol fuel can be effectively used in a diesel engine by means of preheating using exhaust gases and could be a viable option for diesel engine applications.

India is yet to accept semi/fully - autonomous cars and one of the reasons, was loss of control on bad roads. For a better handling on these roads we require advanced braking and that can be done by adapting electronics into the conventional type of braking. In Recent years, the automation in braking system led us to various benefits like traction control system, anti-lock braking system etc. This research work describes and experiments the method for recognizing road surface profile and calculating braking distance. An ultra-sonic surface recognition sensor, mounted underneath the car will send a high frequency wave on to the road surface, which is received by a receiver with in the sensor, it calculates the time taken for the wave to rebound and thus calculates the distance from the point where sensor is mounted. A displacement graph will be plotted based on the output of the sensor. A relationship can be derived between the displacement plot and roughness index through which the friction coefficient can be derived in Matlab for continuous calculation throughout the distance travelled. Since it is a non-contact type of profiling, it is non-destructive. The friction coefficient values received in real-time is used to calculate optimum braking distance. This system, when installed on normal cars can also be used to create a database of road surfaces, especially in cities, which can be shared with other cars. This will help in navigation as well as making the cars more efficient.

In this experimental study, pine oil is identified as low viscous low cetane (LVLC) fuel for compression ignition engine replacing diesel. Numerous advantages of LVLC fuels include improved combustion due to favorable physical properties than diesel. This leads to reduced hydrocarbon, smoke and carbon monoxide emissions with improved thermal efficiency. However, utilization of pine oil as a drop in fuel is challenging, due to its low cetane index. This leads to higher nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission due to prominent heat release rate. A novel fuel reforming system based on the principle of electrochemical liquid vortex ionization was used with permanent magnet/electromagnet to reduce NOx emission with pine oil as base fuel. Electrochemical liquid vortex ionization system converts the fuel molecules to ions; this leads to enhanced atomization and faster air–fuel mixing process leading to lower ignition delay. A two-cylinder commercial CI engine was used for this experimental study. Performance, emission and combustion characteristics were studied for pine oil with and without ionization system at 3, 6, 9 and 12 kW power output and compared with diesel. According to engine test results, compared to diesel, brake thermal efficiency for pine oil is higher and further improved with ionization system. Emissions like smoke, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are reduced for pine oil in comparison with diesel and further reduce with the ionization system. Longer ignition delay with pine oil operation leads to higher NOx emission compared to diesel. Nevertheless, the use of magnetic-based fuel reforming system reduces the ignition delay leading to lower NOx emission.Graphical abstract

Air pollution is fast becoming a serious global problem with increasing population and its subsequent demands. This has resulted in increased usage of hydrogen as fuel for internal combustion engines. Hydrogen resources are vast and it is considered as one of the most promising fuel for automotive sector. As the required hydrogen infrastructure and refueling stations are not meeting the demand, widespread introduction of hydrogen vehicles is not possible in the near future. One of the solutions for this hurdle is to blend hydrogen with methane. Such types of blends take benefit of the unique combustion properties of hydrogen and at the same time reduce the demand for pure hydrogen. Enriching natural gas with hydrogen could be a potential alternative to common hydrocarbon fuels for internal combustion engine applications. Many researchers are working on this for the last few years and work is now focused on how to use this kind of fuel to its maximum extent. This technical note is an assessment of HCNG usage in case of internal combustion engines. Several examples and their salient features have been discussed. Finally, overall effects of hydrogen addition on an engine fueled with HCNG under various conditions are illustrated. In addition, the scope and challenges being faced in this area of research are clearly described.

The present review illustrates the effective use of biodegradable and non-biodegradable fractions of solid waste in a closed loop integrated refinery platform for the recovery of bioenergy resources and for the production of value added products. The biodegradable fraction of solid waste could be treated by advanced biological processes with the simultaneous production of bioenergy (e.g., biohydrogen, biomethane, bioelectricity) and other value added products (e.g., butanol, ethanol, methanol). The scheme illustrates the closed loop approach, and the bioenergy generated from the biodegradable fraction of solid waste could be used for the operation of internal combustion engines and the energy could be further used for processing the waste. The non-biodegradable fraction of solid waste could be used for construction and pavement processes. Overall the study emphasizes the paradigm shift of solid waste management concepts from linear economy to a circular economy following the zero waste concept. The study also explains the circular economy policies practised for solid waste management that stimulate the economy of the country and identify the pathways to maximize the local resources. In addition, the review discusses the advanced information and communication technologies to unfold the issues and challenges faced in the solid waste management. The smart governance of managing waste using the Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the great precursors of technological development that could lead to innovations in waste management. (10 Figures, 4 Tables, 219 References)

In order to avoid the food vs. fuel debate, other than food-based products, agricultural products are effective sources for fuel development. Various parts of plants and trees are used to produce sustainable, low-viscous biofuels, which are gaining much attraction due to their superior burning abilities. The turpentine biofuel produced from pine tree oil has been used for gasoline engines because of its better calorific value and other notable benefits. An attempt has been made to investigate the suitability of turpentine biofuel as a 50% replacement for gasoline in automotive applications to identify the optimum blend ratio. In this study, the experiments are conducted in the port-fuel-injected gasoline engine at different loading conditions of 0 kg to 15 kg at 1800 rpm. Using turpentine blends in a port-fuel-injected SI engine, performance characteristics have been observed with up to a 3–5% improvement in brake thermal efficiency and fuel economy for all concentrations of turpentine biofuel due to their higher calorific value. However, the implementation of turpentine biofuel has shown remarkable reductions in unburnt hydrocarbons by 50% and carbon monoxide emissions by 90% due to its superior burning ability. However, this reduction is not witnessed in oxides of nitrogen and carbon dioxide emissions due to the lower octane number and higher viscosity, which result in a 30% and 5% increase, respectively. Interestingly, the combustion characteristics are observed to be better at part load operations for lower concentrations (30%) of turpentine biofuel in the blends, and this trend has not been noticed at higher concentrations of turpentine biofuel. Finally, it has been concluded that turpentine biofuel would be a better option for the partial replacement of gasoline by up to 30%. However, for further investigation, the anti-knocking characteristics of the turpentine biofuel need to be improved, especially in 40% and 50% turpentine biofuel blends using suitable anti-knocking agents.