Impact of nano additive on engine characteristics using blends of thyme oil with diesel

Diesel engines have been the 'primus motor' of transportation in the world since a long time now. However, the depletion of fuel supplies, recent concerns over the environment and the ever-increasing fuel prices have made the search for an alternative fuel of paramount importance. A considerable amount of interest has been shown by researchers to evaluate different plant and vegetable oils as a replacement of diesel. Based on this background, an attempt to investigate Thyme oil as a substitute to diesel without any modifications in the engine was made. The experiment was conducted on a 1500 rpm, four-stroke, diesel engine with single cylinder which is water cooled. Cerium Oxide nano additive was added to the blends of thyme oil with diesel and its effects on the brake thermal efficiency, specific fuel consumption (SFC) and exhaust emissions were examined. The experimental results portrayed better values of brake thermal efficiency and low SFC with B10 (10 parts of oil with 90 parts of diesel) and B20 samples of the blends, while the B40 blend showed lower NOx emissions at all loads. The HC content was found to increase with the increasing quantity of thyme oil in the blends.