Iranian researchers succeeded in the production of a nanocatalyst with a very high level of distribution and stability in diesel engine fuels.
The product reduces all types of pollutions and fuel consumption concurrently with increasing the power and momentum of the engine. It also does not harm the fueling system of the engine because it becomes homogenous in fuel.
The aim of the research was to synthesize a homogenous nanocatalyst in diesel fuel to reduce pollution. Among other objectives of the project, mention can be made of increasing operational parameters, including power and momentum and decreasing the consumption of brake fuel for a mixture of diesel and bio-fuel in a diesel engine.
The use of at most 20% biodiesel instead of diesel as the fuel of a diesel engine does not require any change in designing the engine but it significantly reduces the amount of pollution caused by the combustion. However, there are limitations in the use of biodiesel due to higher amount of nitrogen oxides (as a cancerous substance) caused by biodiesel combustion in comparison with diesel, and also because it reduces the power and momentum of the engine. The addition of the nanocatalyst synthesized in this research to a mixture of diesel and bio-diesel fuel not only solves this problem, but also increases the engine parameters in comparison with diesel fuel.
The majority of nanocatalysts used at present as fuel additives are in form of emulsion. The most important problem of emulsions is that they are not stable in fuel for a long time. They also create some problems for internal combustion engines due to the use of surfactants in emulsions. Contrary to emulsions, particles of homogenous catalysts do not create sediments during the injection and they do not cause any problem in the engine performance.
Results of the research have been published in Fuel, vol. 139, issue 1, 2015, pp. 374-382.