Water-in-Diesel Emulsion Fuels: Temperature Stability and Thermoreversibility

The emulsion fuels consist of water drops dispersed in a continuous pool of water. The inclusion of a small quantity of water along with fuel is know to have several advantage in terms of reduced engine emissions, for example, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter. One of the simple way of introducing water into the fuel is via the formation of water-in-fuel emulsions. Typical concentration of water in such fuels is less than 20% by volume. The objective of this proposal is to investigate water-in-diesel emulsion fuels. In order to load emulsion in fuel tanks and their use in internal combustion (IC) engines, it is necessary to design emulsions that exhibit long term storage an temperature stability. Emulsion fuels at various fuel-water ratio will be formulated by considering surfactants as stabilizers and their nanostructure and stability of the resulting emulsion fuels.