Effect of an emission-reducing soluble hybrid nanocatalyst in diesel/biodiesel blends on exergetic performance of a DI diesel engine

• Exergetic assessment of a DI engine fueled with B5 and B20 containing hybrid nano-catalyst.
• Significant effect of engine speed and load on exergetic parameters of the engine.
• Non-important difference in the exergetic performance parameters of the engine running with various fuel blends.
• Potential application of the developed nanocatalyst for reducing the emissions without any irreversibility increment.

The present study was set to explore the effect of a novel soluble hybrid nanocatalyst in diesel/biodiesel fuel blends on exergetic performance parameters of a DI diesel engine. Experiments were carried out using two types of diesel/biodiesel blends (i.e., B5 and B20) at four concentrations (0, 30, 60 and 90 ppm) of the hybrid nanocatalyst, i.e., cerium oxide immobilized on amide-functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). Furthermore, the exergy analysis was performed at five different loads and two engine speeds. The results obtained revealed that the exergetic parameters were profoundly influenced by engine speed and load. In general, increasing engine speed and load increased the magnitude of the destructed exergy. Moreover, the exergy efficiency increased by increasing engine load, while it decreased by elevating engine speed. However, the applied fuel blends had approximately similar exergetic efficiency and sustainability index. Interestingly, a remarkable reduction in emissions was obtained by incorporating the soluble catalyst nanoparticles to the diesel/biodiesel blends. Thus, it could be concluded that the diesel/biodiesel blends containing amide-functionalized MWCNTs-CeO2 catalyst might substitute the use of pure diesel fuel without any unfavorable change in the exergetic performance parameters of the DI engines.