Performance and Emission Characteristics of Bombyx mori Biodiesel Blends With SiO₂ Nanoadditive in DI-CI Engines

A major global concern is climate change and its effects on the environment. The combustion of mineral diesel plays a major role in creating pollution. This creates an interest for the researchers to identify an alternate source for the same. In this work, the biodiesel obtained from silkworm oil is blended with 70%. The biodiesel obtained from silkworm oil was blended with 70% by volume of diesel and SiO₂ nanoparticles at three different proportions, 25, 50, and 75 ppm. The biodiesel blends containing 75 ppm SiO₂ nanoparticles showed better combustion performance than diesel and other blends considered. From the results obtained from the single cylinder 4 stroke Compression Ignition engine, it can be evidently seen that the brake thermal efficiency of the biodiesel blends has been increased by 12.46% at full load operation of the engine. The experimental results also show a decrease in Brake-specific fuel consumption by 13.44% for biodiesel blends compared to that of diesel. The emission for the better-performance blend witnessed a decrease in CO by 38.33%, an increase in NOx by 27.41%, and a reduction in UBHC by 43.63%. The overall results of the experiment show that the fuel blend with 30% by volume biodiesel and 75 ppm nanoparticles performed better than diesel in all aspects and can be a potential alternative for diesel.