Set-up of the experiment and improve the performance and emissions of diesel fuel with fusel oil additive from waste products

Response surface methodology (RSM) has been widely implemented to improve the pollutant emission characteristics and performance of a compression ignition engine. The fusel oil-biodiesel blend and pure diesel under varied engine loads and speeds with the use of Models of RSM were found to be statistically significant. This research study has aimed to statistically investigate how a fusel oil-diesel blend impacts compression ignition engine performance and the exhaust pollutants by comparing it to pure diesel fuel. The optimum parameter for reducing ISFC, NOx and CO2 emissions while boosting power was chosen. The blended fuel (F20) showed insignificant effects on the indicated power thereby 20% of fusel oil with diesel may be an acceptable ratio using CI engines in terms of power as well as the lowest NOx emissions with F20. Meanwhile, the highest values of ISFC and CO2 emissions were with F20. When comparing diesel to F20, the optimal load was 29.4 % and the engine speed was 2399 rpm. The predicted values for power, ISFC, NOx and CO2 emissions were4.06 kW, 220.07 g/kWh, 55.56 ppm and 1.93% respectively

Inhibiting the growth of microbes on the air-cathode in the microbial fuel cell by using an antimicrobial agent

The accumulation of aerobic microorganisms on the air-cathode in a single-chamber-microbial fuel cell can suppress the activity of the catalyst, and result in the reduction of the efficiency of the system. Therefore, a suitable mitigation measure is essential to control the growth of biofouling on the cathode. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of chloramphenicol as an anti-biofouling agent on Pt-coated cathode. Two microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were used where the first (MFC-1) was a conventional Pt-coated air-cathode as a control, while the other one (MFC-2) with antibiotic mixed Pt-coated air-cathode. Results demonstrate that the maximum generated cell potential of 0.82 V in the control MFC-1 was reduced to 0.62 V after three months of operation due to biofouling development on the Pt-coated air-cathode. Besides, the control system achieved 95% chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal after 5 d of hydraulic retention time (HRT). However, using the newly developed cathode in MFC-2, the system achieved a maximum cell potential of 0.85 V with 95% of COD removal by 10 d HRT. The maximum columbic efficiency (CE) achieved in control MFC-1 and MFC-2 were 8 and 12.5%, respectively. The increment in CE was due to the absence of cathodic aerobic biofilm as well as the removal of COD was solely accomplished by the anodic biofilm. This result shows that the application of the antibiotic coating on the cathode can suppress the growth of cathodic biofouling without interfering with the other bio-electrochemical properties (COD removal, power recovery, pH change) of the system