EFFECT OF GRAPHITE MICROPARTICLES AS ADDITIVE IN AN INDIRECT DIESEL ENGINE FUELLED WITH PURE PALM OIL

Abstract

Research lately has shown the prospects of graphite as an additive for diesel engines due to its favourable characteristics. Moreover, using pure palm oil (PPaO) as the primary fuel in diesel engines is not recommended because of numerous disadvantages. To overcome such a problem, the effect of graphite oxide (GO) and graphite powder (GP) microparticle as an additive on PPaO was investigated by analysing the diesel engine combustion performance and emissions. GO was prepared using the Hummers method. The use of PPaO as a single fuel led to a significant increase in opacity by up to 127.0% compared to diesel fuel (DF). However, adding GO and GP as fuel additives can significantly reduce opacity by up to 63.9%, improve thermal efficiency by up to 20.4%, and increase specific fuel consumption by up to 40.1% compared to DF. These results indicate that GO and GP have promising potential as effective fuel additives for PPaO, leading to increased combustion efficiency, and reduced hazardous emissions in diesel engine applications.