Date of Award

11-2-2025

Document Type

Thesis

School

School of Mechanical Engineering

Programme

Ph.D.-Doctoral of Philosophy

First Advisor

Dr.T.Mohanraj

Keywords

Bio Fuel, LHR Engine, Thermal Barrier Coating, Nano Additives, Copper Oxide Additive

Abstract

The huge energy demand and environmental anxiety are the reasons for the focus on the interest in alternative fuels for diesel engines. This has resulted in a worldwide search for renewable, less pollutant and agricultural-based alternate fuels. Also, attention is given to increasing the efficiency of a conventional diesel engine when operating on alternative fuels. The bio-fuel derived from non-edible oil such as Pongamia oil and Neem seed oil are suggested alternative fuels for this LHR engine.

Diesel engine combustion components viz., the piston crown and liner were coated with Aluminium Titanate thermal barrier coating material. The objective of this study is to replace 10% of diesel with the direct blending of bio-fuel prepared from Neem and Pongamia oils for engine operation. The slight decrease in the performance of the engine due to the blending could be improved by low heat rejection concept.

A single- cylinder thermal barrier-coated engine characteristics were examined for biofuel blends, and these results were compared with conventional engine operations. The experimental result for diesel and bio-fuel blends gives a better performance for the coated engine than the conventional diesel engine, particularly in the Pongamia oil blend with P10. A significant reduction in hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions was observed for both coated and uncoated engines, but NO emission was increased up to 7.13 % for the coated engine.

Then, the NO emission was also minimized and controlled by adding CuO as an additive for the optimized blend of Pongamia oil with P10. In comparison with the neem oil blend in the coated engine, the Pongamia blend performed better than the other one, increasing Break Thermal efficiency by 2.3% and fuel consumption decreased by 2.42%.

The heat loss to cooling water was minimised by 4.61 %, and heat loss to exhaust gas increased by 2.84 %. In comparison to the uncoated engine, the coated engine showed reduced emissions, with a significant decrease in HC and CO emissions for all test fuels. Compared to a conventional engine running on the same fuels, the LHR engine's emissions of CO and hydrocarbons were reduced by 11% and 15%, respectively, for blended fuels. However, 7.3 % of the engine's NO emissions increased in the coated engine.

When compared to blends of Neem biofuel, the performance and emission characteristics of the diesel engine with an aluminium titanate-coated diesel engine operating on Pongamia blend (P-10) were confirmed. The coated engine delivers better outcomes in terms of increased BTE by 2.6 % but reduced BSFC by 4.73 %. The HCW and HEG was minimised by 2.85 % and 3.54 % respectively. The LHR engine powered by a P-10 biofuel blend and 10 ppm CuO additive proved that the emissions, like HC and CO, were reduced by 7.3% and 4.66%, respectively, a significant reduction in NO emissions by 18.87% and increase in CO2 by 1.54 % was observed. Hence the LHR engine made by aluminium titanate-coating on Piston, Crown and Liner showed effective performance and emission characteristics fuelled by P-10 with 10ppm of CuO additive.

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