Effect of Thermal Barrier Coating on the Performance and Emissions of Diesel Engine Operated with Conventional Diesel and Palm Oil Biodiesel

In this study, the performance and emission of a thermal barrier coating (TBC) engine which applied palm oil biodiesel and diesel as a fuel were evaluated. TBC was prepared by using a series of mixture consisting different blend ratio of yttria stabilized zirconia (Y2O3 center dot ZrO2) and aluminum oxide-silicon oxide (Al2O3 center dot SiO2) via plasma spray coating technique. The experimental results showed that mixture of TBC with 60% Y2O3 center dot ZrO2 + 40% Al2O3 center dot SiO2 had an excellent nitrogen oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and unburned hydrocarbon (HC) reductions compared to other blend-coated pistons. The finding also indicated that coating mixture 50% Y2O3 center dot ZrO2 + 50% Al2O3 center dot SiO2 had the highest brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and lowest of brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) compared to all mixture coating. Reductions of HC and CO emissions were also recorded for 60% Y2O3 center dot ZrO2 + 40% Al2O3 center dot SiO2 and 50% Y2O3 center dot ZrO2 + 50% Al2O3 center dot SiO2 coatings. These encouraging findings had further proven the significance of TBC in enhancing the engine performance and emission reductions operated with different types of fuel.