Conversion of water hyacinth biomass to biofuel with TiO2 nanoparticle blending: Exergy and statistical analysis

Abstract

The lower calorific value of biodiesel results in lower efficiency compared to diesel mode. To address this issue, researchers have explored the use of nanoparticles to enhance the properties of biodiesel. In this study, nano-fuel with 150 ppm of TiO2 nanoparticles in Water Hyacinth Biodiesel (WHB) was examined. The fuel injection pressure (FIP) of the engine is advanced for the nanofuel, and engine tests are conducted at various FIP (200 bar–280 bar) and engine loadings (20 %–100 % in five steps, 20 % increment after each step). The results showed FIP up to 260 bar resulting in increased exergetic and brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and decreased emissions of CO and HC for all engine loadings. The maximum reduction of 56.92 % and 36.4 % were observed for CO and HC at 260 bar FIP. Optimized values from the statistical analysis suggest that the input variables with 42.17 % of engine load and 276.29 bar of FIP result in optimum values of response variable such as BTE of 48.95 % for WHB-TNP blend. Therefore, it was concluded that the nanofuel of TiO2 nanoparticles and WHB at a FIP of 260 bar works better than diesel mode for all engine loads.