Investigation on the combustion characteristics of alumina nanoparticles dispersed longer term stable biodiesel nanofluids

Abstract

In this paper, the combustion characteristics of alumina nanoparticles dispersed jatropha biodiesel based nanofluids were investigated by dispersing the alumina nanoparticles having average size of ~13 nm in jatropha biodiesel with 0.1 volume fraction. Only longer duration having more than one year stable nanofluids were tested for the combustion characteristics such as evaporation time on a hot-plate test in the temperature range of 300 °C to 600 °C. The preliminary evaporation test results revealed that the evaporation time of one year older stable ~13 nm alumina nanoparticles dispersed nanofluids significantly improved and were comparable to that of the commercially available diesel fuel beyond 450°C. Such type of biofuel based nanofluids having longer term stability and improved combustion characteristics can be utilized directly as an alternate fuel for the future diesel engines.