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www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x(Print)/1976-3824(Online)
DOI 10.1007/s12206-016-0247-x
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology, Coimbatore 641 010, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore 641 013, India
(Manuscript Received June 1, 2015; Revised September 30, 2015; Accepted October 30, 2015)
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Abstract
The use of water-in-diesel emulsion fuel positively influences the performance and emission characteristics of diesel engines. The
problem associated with the introduction of such fuel into existing diesel engines is the lack of favorable emulsion qualities, such as a
high stability period, nominal heating value, medium density and low kinematic viscosity. The traditional Taguchi method has been applied to determine the optimal condition for single responses only; to overcome this limitation, the Taguchi-Grey relational-based multiresponse optimization method is adopted in the present study to obtain such beneficial emulsion fuel qualities. Experiments are conducted based on the L9 orthogonal array suggested in Taguchis quality concept, and the output responses are recorded. The emulsification process control parameters viz., surfactant concentration, stirrer speed and water concentration are identified as input parameters.
Results show that all the process parameters significantly influence emulsion quality. An optimal parametric setting is determined according to S/N ratio and verified through confirmation experiments. This setting effectively improves emulsion quality. Furthermore, the
properties of the W/D emulsion fuel prepared at the optimal parametric setting meet the diesel fuel requirements prescribed by the European standard of automotive fuel requirements (EN 590:2009).
Keywords: Emulsion fuel properties; Emulsion stability; Grey relational analysis; Optimal emulsion parameters; Water-in-diesel emulsion
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1. Introduction
The air pollution caused by diesel engines has attracted
much interest in the domain of eco-friendly fuels because
concerns regarding the environment and human health are
increasing. To improve the performance and emission characteristics of existing diesel engines, considerable efforts have
been exerted for the research and development of Water-indiesel (W/D) emulsion fuels [1-5]. In W/D emulsion fuel,
water droplets are dispersed over diesel, and these two liquids
are immiscible [6]. The main challenges of the emulsification
process are the formation of kinetically long, stable W/D
emulsion fuel and the generation of favorable emulsion fuel
properties; these difficulties can be overcome through the
addition of surface active agents (surfactants), the selection of
a suitable emulsion preparation method, and the control of
water concentration in emulsion fuel.
Surfactants are used to lower the surface tension between
diesel and water as well as to prevent droplet flocculation
through absorption on the droplet surfaces. Among cationic,
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9842 261765, Fax.: +91 422 2605454
E-mail address: suresh.vellaiyan@gmail.com
anionic, ampholeric, and nonionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants possess the desired fuel characteristics of sting with
no soot and a lack of sulfur and nitrogen [7]. An appropriate
HLB value and the molecular structure of nonionic surfactants
are the key factors in the formation of stable emulsion. In the
first phase of the present study, Sorbitan monolaurate (HLB:
8.6) provides better emulsion stability with the minor occurrence of creaming and the formation of a coalescence zone
than Sorbitan monooleate (HLB: 4.3) and PEG 20 Sorbitan
monooleate (HLB: 15.0) do.
W/D emulsions can be stabilized with the use of a highshear stirring method, a high-pressure homogenizer method,
and ultrasound generators [10]. The high-shear stirring
method that involves mechanically homogenizing emulsification positively affects smoke and NOX emissions [11]. In the
first phase of the current study, an increase in water concentration reduced the stability period. In addition, the viscosity and
density values exceeded the limit of standard diesel fuel requirements.
The use of W/D emulsion fuel in existing diesel engines has
been an active field of inquiry in the past decade. Most reports
are based on the measurement of metal wear, performance,
and emission characteristics. However, little effort has been
exerted to examine the influence of emulsification process
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S. Vellaiyan and K. S. Amirthagadeswaran / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (3) (2016) 1399~1404
Process parameters
1
0.5
1.0
1.5
5000
10000
15000
10
15
In this work, high-speed diesel (Bharath Petroleum Corporation Limited, India) was used as the continuous phase of the
emulsion. Sorbitan monolaurate (HLB: 8.6) was utilized as the
surfactant (Estelle Chemicals (P) Ltd., India). Double distilled
filtered water was employed as the dispersed phase of the
emulsion.
The experimental setup of the variable high-speed stirrer (015000 rpm) used for emulsion preparation is shown in Fig. 1.
The desired quantities of water and surfactants were added
dropwise to the fuel mixing chamber at high agitation speed
and stirred constantly for approximately 30 min.
S. Vellaiyan and K. S. Amirthagadeswaran / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (3) (2016) 1399~1404
y i ( k ) - min y i ( k )
max y i ( k ) - min y i ( k )
(1)
The addition of water to diesel increases the density and reduces the heating value of emulsion fuel due to the increased
density of water over diesel and to the heat absorption of water particles during combustion, respectively. The total heat
content of the W/D emulsion fuel increases with density. Furthermore, the micro explosion of the water particles in the
combustion chamber enhances the efficiency of the diesel
engines [5]. The density and heating values are characterized
as the nominal-the-best and are computed as follows:
x (i ) k =
yi ( k ) - y0
max y i ( k ) - y 0
(2)
max y i ( k ) - y i ( k )
max y i ( k ) - min y i ( k )
1401
responding response.
The grey relational coefficient xi(k) can be calculated as follows:
+ y D max
xi ( k ) = D min
,
(4)
D 0i ( k ) = x0 ( k ) - xi (k ) ,
(5)
D 0i ( k ) + Y D max
where D0i is the absolute difference value. Dmin and Dmax are the
minimum and maximum values of the absolute differences of
all compared sequences. The purpose of distinguishing coefficient y (0 y 1) is to weaken the effect of Dmax when it is
excessive. In the present study, the value of y is set to 0.5. The
grey relational grade y0 can be computed as follows:
n
y0 = x i ( k ) b y i ...... b = 1 ,
(6)
k =1
1
N
Ni
y
u =1
2
u
(7)
(3)
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S. Vellaiyan and K. S. Amirthagadeswaran / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (3) (2016) 1399~1404
Surfactant
concentration (%)
Stirrer speed
(rpm)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0.5
0.5
0.5
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.5
1.5
1.5
5000
10000
15000
5000
10000
15000
5000
10000
15000
Output responses
Water
Stability period (hrs)
concentration (%)
5
10
15
10
15
5
15
5
10
184
202
265
170
230
320
160
247
282
Heating value
(MJ/kg)
Density (kg/m3)
Kinematic viscosity
(mm2/sec)
42.30
41.00
41.00
41.85
40.95
42.90
40.80
42.80
42.20
838.9
843.2
852.6
845.1
853.4
839.8
867.9
847.6
852.5
2.1
3.1
4.6
2.3
3.3
4.2
2.4
3.0
4.3
Table 3. Calculated grey relational coefficients of all responses and the grey relational grades with weightage values and S/N ratios.
Weighting
factor
0.4
0.4
0.1
Run No
0.1
0.3704
0.4040
0.5926
0.3478
0.4706
1.0000
0.3333
0.5229
0.6779
1.0000
0.5555
0.3333
0.8621
0.5102
0.3731
0.8065
0.5814
0.3623
Density
Heating value
0.3549
0.3396
0.4149
0.3225
0.4280
0.3800
1.0000
0.3483
0.4133
0.6129
0.4419
0.3333
0.4750
0.3393
1.0000
0.3585
0.9048
0.5758
Table 4. Responses for the S/N ratios and the significance of process
parameters.
Level
Surfactant
concentration
(A)
Stirrer speed
(B)
Water
concentration
(C)
5.849
4.449
3.999
4.937
6.071
5.817
5.083
5.350
6.054
Delta
0.912
1.622
2.055
Rank
Optimum level
A2
B1
C1
SS
0.00498
0.01480
0.03200
DOF
% of contribution
9.8
28.5
61.7
S/N ratio
Rank
0.64490
0.46195
0.44520
0.56371
0.46905
0.68724
0.59177
0.56703
0.51499
3.81015
6.70810
7.02890
4.97889
6.57562
3.25783
4.55694
4.92788
5.76402
2
8
9
5
7
1
3
4
6
SS = y i - y m
i =1
),
(8)
4. Confirmation test
To predict the enhancement in emulsion quality for the optimum process parameter settings, the S/N ratio and the grey
relational grade are obtained with the following equation:
o
y = y m + i=1 y i - y m ) ,
(9)
where ym is the total mean of the S/N ratio or of the grey relational grade, y is the mean of the S/N ratio or of the grey
S. Vellaiyan and K. S. Amirthagadeswaran / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 30 (3) (2016) 1399~1404
Optimal parameter
combination
Prediction
Experimentation
Level
A2B3C1
A2B1C1
Grey relational
grade
0.6872
0.7075
0.7589
S/N ratio
3.2578
2.8053
2.3959
Kinematic
Stability
Density at
viscosity at
period (hrs)
15C (kg/m3)
2
40C (mm /s)
Heating
value
(MJ/kg)
Initial parametric
setting -A2B3C1
320.0
4.2
839.8
42.9
284.0
2.6
839.6
42.6
EN 590:2009
standard
NA
2.0-4.5
820.0-845.0
NA
5. Conclusion
To optimize the emulsion process parameters in the emulsification process, the Taguchi-Grey relational analysis is conducted and the results presented. The study conclusions are as
follows:
Surfactant concentration, stirrer speed, and water concentration significantly influence emulsion quality,
the optimal parameter setting is as follows: 1% surfactant
concentration at 5000 rpm stirrer speed with 5% water
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Acknowledgment
The authors wish to thank the management and Principal Dr.
R. Joseph Xavier of the Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, India for providing the facilities and support
for the execution of this research.
Nomenclature-----------------------------------------------------------------------W/D
HLB
NOx
BD
rpm
S/N ratio
R.No
SS
DOF
: Water-in-diesel
: Hydrophilic-lipophilic balance
: Nitrogen oxides
: Base diesel
: Revolution per minute
: Signal-to-noise ratio
: Run number
: Sum of squares
: Degree of freedom
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