Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Al2O3 Nanomaterials as Fuel Additives on Emissions Characteristics of Diesel Engine

This experimental study highlights the application of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanomaterials as a fuel additive to evaluate their effects on the emission performance of a diesel engine, with the objective of advancing efforts toward achieving near-zero emissions from diesel engines. The research examines the impact of varying engine speeds and loads on emission characteristics and provides an in-depth analysis of the mechanisms responsible for these effects, comparing pure diesel fuel with Al2O3 nanofuel. The experiments were performed on a diesel engine (single-cylinder and 10.36 kW). The engine was directly linked to an eddy current dynamometer in order to achieve variable engine loads by employing thermal load resistors. The findings demonstrated that the incorporation of nano-sized Al2O3 in diesel fuel led to decreases of around 5–25%, 4–17%, and 14–37% in CO, CO2, and HC emissions, respectively, relative to the baseline fuel. However, the NOx emission increased by 9–32% when the engine operated on Al2O3 nanofuel. The fuel consumption values remained similar when the engine was fueled with Al2O3 nanofuel and baseline fuel. Ultimately, our analysis of the results showcases the positive impact of incorporating nano-Al2O3 as a fuel additive in diesel fuel, leading to reduced exhaust emissions of diesel engines.