Effect of lanthanum zirconate thermal barrier coating on the performance and emissions of a diesel engine using biodiesel

Abstract

An experimental Lanthanum Zirconate (La2Zr2O7) ceramic powder has been used as a thermal barrier coating material to study its effect on performance and exhaust emissions of a single cylinder diesel engine operated using diesel and biodiesel. Pongamia vegetable oil has been used to prepare biodiesel through transesterification process. Lanthanum doped thermal barrier coatings are found to be promising candidates for applications such as in diesel engines besides the conventional YSZ TBCs with lower thermal conductivity, high sintering resistance, low oxygen permeability and with catalytic activity. This experimental study has shown that the performance of the engine is improved significantly on the account of brake thermal efficiency and specific fuel consumption. Emissions, on the other hand are also improved, especially the smoke opacity which is significantly low at all Low Heat Rejection (LHR) operations.