Jet fuel is a crucial source of energy for both modern transport and national defense. With over 18 billion gallons of jet fuel being used in the United States per year and with worldwide fossil fuel sources being depleted, alternative replacement fuels will be required to maintain the modern way of life. Due to modern equipment being designed to consume liquid hydrocarbon fuels, it is economically optimal to create a ‘plug and play’ alternative that works with existing equipment. Renewable jet fuel has become an increasingly attractive alternative fuel to replace these petroleum-based jet fuels for the aviation industry. Researchers have already developed multiple renewable jet fuels, but many methods to improve the combustion characteristics, fuel economy, and emissions of these fuels are still untested and unexplored. One such method is the addition of nanoparticles to modify combustion characteristics. The addition of nanoparticles to other fuels has shown to modify many of their combustion characteristics and has the potential to lower emissions; however, a significant practical disadvantage of the addition of nanoparticles is that the resulting nanofuel is prone to phase separation after it is prepared. Present research analyzed the settling characteristics of acetylene black (AB), graphene nanoparticles (GNP), and multi walled nanotubes (MWNT) in soy and canola oil-based jet fuel. All nanofuel mixtures were tested at 1.0% nanoparticles by weight and each sample was run for 48 hours. Because the mixing method used can have a large effect on stability, ultrasonication was chosen. Ultrasonication can break apart nanoparticle agglomerates, which allows for more evenly dispersed samples. Each sample was mixed with the ultrasonicator for 10 minutes. The non-intrusive observation method utilized periodically analyzes samples by sending light through each one and detecting how much reaches the other side. The light difference shows how much interference is present due to the suspended nanoparticles. This can be used to determine the general movement of nanoparticles during settling. This is repeated at five different depths for each sample in order to give a more accurate picture of the settling tends present. This method allows for the plotting of general particle migration within the fluid, which was used to provide new insights on the nature of the stability of the given nanofluid. It is hoped that present research will create further interest in the utilization of nanoparticles to improve renewable jet fuel, as well as to support further work into the stabilization of nanofuels in general.  


Experimental Investigation of the Settling of Carbon-Based Nanoparticles in Renewable Jet Fuel

Division / Sponsors: 
Aerospace, Bioengineering, Applied Mechanics, Design Engineering Division, Advanced Energy Systems, Manufacturing Engineering Division, Noise Control and Acoustics, Nondestructive Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Prognosis (NDPD), Nuclear Engineering Division, Process Industries Division, Fluids Engineering, Heat Transfer, Materials, Microelectromechanical Systems, Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis, Computers & Information in Engineering


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2020/volume/84478

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