{"title":"Exergetic and Environmental Sustainability Analysis of Second-Generation Hybrid Biodiesel Blends with α-Al₂O₃ Nano-additive","authors":"Noor Alam, Syed Yousufuddin, Zahir Hasan, Shahir Hussain, Sonachalam Muthuswamy, Surendra Kumar Yadav, Elaf N. Mahrous, Nor’azizi Othman, Ashu Yadav, Rahul Khatri","doi":"10.1186/s12302-026-01419-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The increasing demand for sustainable energy has accelerated research on alternative fuels for diesel engines. In this study, the combustion, performance, emission, and sustainability characteristics of biodiesel blends derived from chicken fat (CF20), waste cooking oil (WC20), and their combined blend (CF10WC10), each enhanced with 50 ppm α-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles, were experimentally investigated in a variable compression ratio (VCR) diesel engine. The novelty of this work lies in the combined utilization of dual waste-derived biodiesel feedstocks with catalytic α-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles under varying compression ratios, along with a comprehensive evaluation of combustion, thermodynamic (energy–exergy), emission, and sustainability characteristics, which has not been extensively reported in the literature. The combustion analysis revealed that pure diesel exhibited the highest peak cylinder pressure of 68.74 bar, while WC20 showed a comparable value of 66.88 bar, indicating efficient combustion behaviour among the tested blends. Performance results demonstrated that the WC20 blend achieved a maximum energy efficiency of 27.7% and exergy efficiency of 26.1%, showing performance close to conventional diesel fuel. Emission analysis indicated that NOx emissions increased by approximately 18.7% for biodiesel blends compared with diesel under higher load conditions, primarily due to enhanced oxygen availability and elevated combustion temperatures, while other emissions remained within acceptable limits. The sustainability assessment further indicated that WC20 exhibited an improved sustainability index compared with other biodiesel blends. Overall, the results demonstrate that waste-derived biodiesel blends enhanced with α-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles can provide stable combustion characteristics and competitive thermodynamic performance, highlighting their potential as viable alternative fuels for compression ignition engines.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":546,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Sciences Europe","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.1000,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12302-026-01419-3.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Sciences Europe","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12302-026-01419-3","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/8/4 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The increasing demand for sustainable energy has accelerated research on alternative fuels for diesel engines. In this study, the combustion, performance, emission, and sustainability characteristics of biodiesel blends derived from chicken fat (CF20), waste cooking oil (WC20), and their combined blend (CF10WC10), each enhanced with 50 ppm α-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles, were experimentally investigated in a variable compression ratio (VCR) diesel engine. The novelty of this work lies in the combined utilization of dual waste-derived biodiesel feedstocks with catalytic α-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles under varying compression ratios, along with a comprehensive evaluation of combustion, thermodynamic (energy–exergy), emission, and sustainability characteristics, which has not been extensively reported in the literature. The combustion analysis revealed that pure diesel exhibited the highest peak cylinder pressure of 68.74 bar, while WC20 showed a comparable value of 66.88 bar, indicating efficient combustion behaviour among the tested blends. Performance results demonstrated that the WC20 blend achieved a maximum energy efficiency of 27.7% and exergy efficiency of 26.1%, showing performance close to conventional diesel fuel. Emission analysis indicated that NOx emissions increased by approximately 18.7% for biodiesel blends compared with diesel under higher load conditions, primarily due to enhanced oxygen availability and elevated combustion temperatures, while other emissions remained within acceptable limits. The sustainability assessment further indicated that WC20 exhibited an improved sustainability index compared with other biodiesel blends. Overall, the results demonstrate that waste-derived biodiesel blends enhanced with α-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles can provide stable combustion characteristics and competitive thermodynamic performance, highlighting their potential as viable alternative fuels for compression ignition engines.
期刊介绍：
ESEU is an international journal, focusing primarily on Europe, with a broad scope covering all aspects of environmental sciences, including the main topic regulation.
ESEU will discuss the entanglement between environmental sciences and regulation because, in recent years, there have been misunderstandings and even disagreement between stakeholders in these two areas. ESEU will help to improve the comprehension of issues between environmental sciences and regulation.
ESEU will be an outlet from the German-speaking (DACH) countries to Europe and an inlet from Europe to the DACH countries regarding environmental sciences and regulation.
Moreover, ESEU will facilitate the exchange of ideas and interaction between Europe and the DACH countries regarding environmental regulatory issues.
Although Europe is at the center of ESEU, the journal will not exclude the rest of the world, because regulatory issues pertaining to environmental sciences can be fully seen only from a global perspective.
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