Mohammad Anwar

This study investigated the suitability of stone fruit seed as a source of biodiesel for transport. Stone fruit oil (SFO) was extracted from the seed and converted into biodiesel. The biodiesel yield of 95.75% was produced using the alkaline catalysed transesterification process with a methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 6:1, KOH catalyst concentration of 0.5 wt% (weight %), and a reaction temperature of 55 °C for 60 min. The physicochemical properties of the produced biodiesel were determined and found to be the closest match of standard diesel. The engine performance, emissions and combustion behaviour of a four-cylinder diesel engine fuelled with SFO biodiesel blends of 5%, 10% and 20% with diesel, v/v basis, were tested. The testing was performed at 100% engine load with speed ranging from 200 to 2400 rpm. The average brake specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency of SFO blends were found to be 4.7% to 15.4% higher and 3.9% to 11.4% lower than those of diesel, respectively. The results also revealed that SFO biodiesel blends have marginally lower in-cylinder pressure and a higher heat release rate compared to diesel. The mass fraction burned results of SFO biodiesel blends were found to be slightly faster than those of diesel. The SFO biodiesel 5% blend produced about 1.9% higher NO_x emissions and 17.4% lower unburnt HC with 23.4% lower particulate matter (PM) compared to diesel fuel. To summarise, SFO biodiesel blends are recommended as a suitable transport fuel for addressing engine emissions problems and improving combustion performance with a marginal sacrifice of engine efficiency.

In this study, an overview of combustion characteristics of an agricultural diesel engine fuelled with papaya seed oil (PSO) biodiesel and diesel is presented. A naturally aspirated four-cylinder four-stroke tractor engine was used for all experiments. Various PSO blends (5%, 10%, and 20%) were tested and compared with diesel at speeds of 1400 rpm and 2400 rpm at full load condition. The combustion characteristics such as in-cylinder pressure, heat release rate, ignition delay, mass fraction burned, ignition duration and cylinder temperature were tested. The results show that PSO blends have some excellent attributes as fuel in regard to combustion characteristics. All PSO biodiesel blends have higher in-cylinder pressure; for example, PSO20 has 2.4% more than diesel. Heat release rate values of all PSO biodiesel blends were found to be lower than diesel due to the shorter ignition delay and lower calorific values of biodiesel. PSO20 biodiesel shows faster combustion than diesel by about 11.92% at 1400 rpm and 7.93% at 2400 rpm. The maximum cylinder temperature of all PSO biodiesel blends are also higher than that of diesel, such as PSO20 at 1400 rpm by 3.17% and at 2400 rpm by 3.73%.

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engine. Considering the differences between diesel and biodiesel fuels, the engine condition should be modified based on the fuel or fuel blends to achieve optimum performance. This study presented a performance analysis of a direct-injected (DI) diesel engine with a dynamometer fueled with diesel-tomato seed biodiesel (TSOB) blends employing ANOVA and universal nonlinear model based on ANN. The experiments were carried out under conditions of some independent variables including different engine loads (0, 50, 100%) and speed (1800, 2150, and 2500 rpm) for four diesel-biodiesel combinations (B0, B5, B10, and B20). In this research, the effect of these factors on dependent variables including power, torque, SFC, FC, and Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) are investigated. Duncan′s multi-domain test at a significance level of R < 0.01 shows that the highest and lowest of the torque and power are produced from B5 and B20, respectively. These results show that the lowest EGT of 613 K is related to B20 and the highest EGT is related to B5 and B10. The regression models showed that the torque decreases with increasing the engine speed and biodiesel percentage. These results also show that the highest and the lowest SFC is related to B0 and B20, respectively. The ANN model shows high capability of predicting the engine performance parameters and emissions, without running costly and time-consuming experiments with the histogram error of 0.004 and R = 0.96. It also proved that ANN is a non-linear model of choice to deal with these data, instead of multivariate linear regression employed for preliminary analysis.

Fossil fuel depletion, along with its ever-increasing price and detrimental impact on the environment, has urged researchers to look for alternative renewable energy. Of all the options available, biomass presents a very reliable source due to its never-ending supply. As research on various biomasses has grown in recent years, waste from these biomasses has also increased, and it is now time to shift the focus to utilizing these wastes for energy. The current waste management system mainly focuses on open burning and soil incorporation as it is cost-effective; however, these affect the environment. There must be an alternative way, such as to use it for power generation. Rice straw and rice husk are examples of such potential biomass waste. Rice is the main food source for the world, mostly in Asian regions, as most people consume rice daily. This paper reviews factors that impact the implementation of rice-straw-based power plants. Ash content and moisture content are important properties that govern combustion, and these vary with location. Logistical improvements are required to reduce the transport cost of rice husk and rice straw, which is higher than the transportation cost of coal.

This paper investigates the interactive relationship between three operating parameters (papaya seed oil (PSO) biodiesel blends, engine load, and engine speed) and four responses (brake power, BP; torque; brake specific fuel consumption, BSFC; and, brake thermal efficiency, BTE) for engine testing. A fully instrumented four cylinder four-stroke, naturally aspirated agricultural diesel engine was used for all experiments. Three different blends: B5 (5% PSO biodiesel + 95% diesel), B10 (10% PSO biodiesel + 90% diesel), and B20 (20% PSO biodiesel + 80% diesel) were tested. Physicochemical properties of these blends and pure PSO biodiesel were characterised, and the engine’s performance characteristics were analysed. The results of the engine performance experiments showed that, in comparison with diesel, the three PSO biodiesel blends caused a slight reduction in BP, torque, and BTE, and an increase in BSFC. The analysis of variance and quadratic regression modelling showed that both load and speed were the most important parameters that affect engine performance, while PSO biodiesel blends had a significant effect on BSFC.

In this study, the production process of second-generation biodiesel from Australian native stone fruit have been optimised using response surface methodology via an alkali catalysed transesterification process. This process optimisation was performed varying three factors, each at three different levels. Methanol: oil molar ratio, catalyst concentration (wt %) and reaction temperature were the input factors in the optimisation process, while biodiesel yield was the key model output. Both 3D surface plots and 2D contour plots were developed using MINITAB 18 to predict optimum biodiesel yield. Gas chromatography (GC) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis of the resulting biodiesel was also done for biodiesel characterisation. To predict biodiesel yield a quadratic model was created and it showed an R² of 0.98 indicating the satisfactory performance of the model. Maximum biodiesel yield of 95.8% was obtained at a methanol: oil molar ratio of 6:1, KOH catalyst concentration of 0.5 wt % and a reaction temperature of 55 °C. At these reaction conditions, the predicted biodiesel yield was 95.9%. These results demonstrate reliable prediction of the transesterification process by Response surface methodology (RSM). The results also show that the properties of the synthesised Australian native stone fruit biodiesel satisfactorily meet the ASTM D6751 and EN14214 standards. In addition, the fuel properties of Australian native stone fruit biodiesel were found to be similar to those of conventional diesel fuel. Thus, it can be said that Australian native stone fruit seed oil could be used as a potential second-generation biodiesel source as well as an alternative fuel in diesel engines.

Electric drive system for the Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) comprises a power-split hybrid transmission utilizing two motors, a traction power inverter module (TPIM) having two inverters and a liquid-cooled lithiumion battery pack [1, 2]. The resulting propulsion system provides a combination of exceptional fuel economy, crisp acceleration, and strong electric-only driving range. To meet all these performance, reliability and robustness targets and package the TPIM into a compact under hood environment is a challenge. This paper describes indispensable and collaborative design efforts by Hitachi Automotive and General Motors to meet this challenge. Enhancing heat dissipation performance and using high efficient power semiconductor enables reduced inverter size and increased power output. Elimination of heat impeding thermal grease and developing direct water cooled power module made generational improvements in this area. Hitachi went further by developing a direct double-sided cooling power module to achieve ~35% improvement in heat dissipation utilizing a proprietary cooling structure that immerses the module in coolant [3]. This paper elaborates on the integration, structure and the selection of power transistor switch for this TPIM to meet Cadillac CT6 PHEV tractive and special maneuver needs. Among other coherent steps are to design low inductance busbar, optimize the gate drive circuit elements, provide protection functions for detecting over-temperature, over-current, over-voltage ranges and thus maximizing the performance from the power devices. Design efforts were also directed to surround the Bulk DC capacitor by the vertical water channels of the power module and maintain life expectancy by not exceeding rated hot spot temperature. This paper describes predictions, component and vehicle level test results to justify design competence.

In electric and hybrid electric vehicle applications high-voltage (HV) DC bus is shared by multiple power converter units and energy storage systems. Each of these components should meet a set of common HV bus design requirements besides their own functional requirements. Selection of an appropriate HV DC bus architecture is intertwined with control dynamics and filter component sizing, together with a set of design metric for automotive applications. This paper discusses these items with simulation results and design trade-offs. Some vehicle level test data is also presented here in support. This paper describes HV DC bus architecture and component selection particularly for Extended-Range Electric Vehicle application. The analysis covered in this paper, in deciding an appropriate DC bus architecture, emphasizes on HV DC Bus ripple, resonance and voltage transients during various vehicle drive profiles.