The Effects of Nanofilter and Nanoclay on Reducing Pollutant Emissions from Rapeseed Biodiesel in a Diesel Engine

Biodiesel is a diesel fuel substitute produced from renewable resources and waste lipids that is characterized by its low-emissions. This study, presents an experimental investigation focusing on reducing NOx pollutants in biodiesel fuels by means of a novel method using nanoclay and nanofiltration together in biodiesel treatment. Rapeseed oil and methyl alcohol are converted to biodiesel by esterification method. Subsequently, nanoclay is added to the mixture to separate the nitrogen elements from the fuel. The fuel is subsequently filtered using nanofilters prior to exhaust gas analysis. The treatments are performed on biodiesel and diesel to evaluate the effects that the addition of nanoclay and nanofiltration have on the fuel. The results showed that, the nanoclay and nanofiltration significantly reduce CO and NOx pollution. In this study, filtration was also performed without nanoclay to determine the effect that nanofilters alone have on the fuel.