CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, cilt.26, sa.6, ss.1919-1946, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
The goal of this work is to investigate the influence of SiO2 nanoparticles having different particle sizes (15 nm, 22 nm, and 75 nm) added to the traditional diesel fuel in a single-cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection, water-cooled, CI engine in terms of thermodynamic, environmental, sustainability, and economic perspectives. In the test engine, experiments were carried out at a constant speed (1500 rpm) and four ranging loads (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%). On this basis, thermal efficiency and heat losses were determined by energy analysis. In the exergy analysis, fuel exergy, exergy transferred to the cooling water, exhaust exergy, exergy destroyed, and exergy efficiency were taken into consideration. The cost of the power taken from the crankshaft and the cost of exergy losses were found by exergoeconomic analysis. Besides that, the usability of the test fuels in the diesel engine was displayed by calculating the sustainability parameters. The addition of SiO2 nanoparticles of different sizes to the fuel blends did not cause a noticeable decrease in thermal efficiency. At 100% engine load, the thermal efficiency of D100, DSi-22, and DSi-75 fuels is 25.724%, 25.640%, and 25.325%, respectively. As the size of SiO2 nanoparticles added to fuel blends increases, the decrease in exergy efficiency becomes more noticeable. At 100% engine load, the exergy efficiency of D100, DSi-22, and DSi-75 fuels was determined as 23.96%, 22.78%, and 22.50%, respectively. Adding SiO2 nanoparticles into fuel blends increased exergy destruction. If the engine load is 10%, the exergy destruction in D100, DSi-15, DSi-22, and DSi-75 fuels is 13.649 kW, 14.678 kW, 14.75 kW, and 15.043 kW, respectively. The addition of SiO2 nanoparticles into diesel fuel is positive in terms of sustainability analysis. The lowest sustainability indices occurred at 25% engine load and are in the range of 1.175-1.19 for D100, DSi-15, DSi-22, and DSi-75 fuels, respectively. These values meet the condition of SI > 1. The addition of SiO2 in fuel blends increases fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, O-2 emissions, fuel energy, fuel exergy, exhaust exergy, the exergy of thermal losses, and exergy destruction and reduces CO emissions, thermal efficiency, and exergetic efficiency. In addition, as the size of SiO2 used in fuel blends increases, fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, fuel energy, and fuel exergy increase. On the other hand, CO emission, thermal efficiency, and exergy efficiency decrease.