Biodiesel Exhaust Toxicity with and without Diethylene Glycol Dimethyl Ether Fuel Additive in Primary Airway Epithelial Cells Grown at the Air-Liquid Interface.

Biodiesel usage is increasing steadily worldwide as the push for renewable fuel sources increases. The increased oxygen content in biodiesel fuel is believed to cause decreased particulate matter (PM) and increased nitrous oxides within its exhaust. The addition of fuel additives to further increase the oxygen content may contribute to even further benefits in exhaust composition. The aim of this study was to assess the toxicity of 10% (v/v) diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DGDME) added as a biodiesel fuel additive. Primary human airway epithelial cells were grown at the air-liquid interface and exposed to diluted exhaust from an engine running on either grapeseed, bran, or coconut biodiesel or the same three biodiesels with 10% (v/v) DGDME added to them; mineral diesel and air were used as controls. Exhaust properties, culture permeability, epithelial cell damage, and IL-6 and IL-8 release were measured postexposure. The fuel additive DGDME caused a decrease in PM and nitrous oxide concentrations. However, exhaust exposure with DGDME also caused decreased permeability, increased epithelial cell damage, and increased release of IL-6 and IL-8 (p < 0.05). Despite the fuel additive having beneficial effects on the exhaust properties of the biodiesel, it was found to be more toxic.

Investigation of engine performance and emissions of a diesel engine with a blend of marine gas oil and synthetic diesel fuel.

This paper investigates diesel engine performance and exhaust emissions with marine gas oil (MGO) and a blend of MGO and synthetic diesel fuel. Ten per cent by volume of Fischer-Tropsch (FT), a synthetic diesel fuel, was added to MGO to investigate its influence on the diesel engine performance and emissions. The blended fuel was termed as FT10 fuel, while the neat (100 vol%) MGO was termed as MGO fuel. The experiments were conducted with a fourstroke, six-cylinder, turbocharged, direct injection, Scania DC 1102 diesel engine. It is interesting to note that all emissions including smoke (filter smoke number), total particulate matter (TPM), carbon monoxide (CO), total unburned hydrocarbon (THC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and engine noise were reduced with FT10 fuel compared with the MGO fuel. Diesel fine particle number and mass emissions were measured with an electrical low pressure impactor. Like other exhaust emissions, significant reductions in fine particles and mass emissions were observed with the FT10 fuel. The reduction was due to absence of sulphur and aromatic compounds in the FT fuel. In-cylinder gas pressure and engine thermal efficiency were identical for both FT10 and MGO fuels.

Influences of weather-related parameters on the spread of Covid-19 pandemic - The scenario of Bangladesh.

OBJECTIVE: Weather parameters such as temperature, humidity, air quality index and wind speed are the important factors influencing the infectious diseases like Covid-19. Therefore, this study aims to discuss and analyse the relation between weather parameters and the spread of Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) from the perspective of Bangladesh. METHODS: Correlation among weather parameters and infection and death rate were established using several graphical plots and wind rose diagrams, Kendall and Spearman correlation and appropriate discussion with relevancy and reference. Information presented in this study has been extracted from 1st April 2020 to 30th December 2020. RESULTS: Analyses show that with the decrease in temperature, infection rate increased significantly. Also, the number of infection increases as wind speed increases. As the absolute humidity rate of Bangladesh is almost constant; therefore, the authors are unable to predict any relation of absolute humidity with the number of infection. Further, the prediction for the number of infections based on the wind direction for the several regions of seven divisions in Bangladesh is vulnerable for the upcoming several months. CONCLUSION: This study has analysed the dependency of weather parameters on a number of infections along with predicting the upcoming danger zones.

Improvement of engine emissions with conventional diesel fuel and diesel-biodiesel blends.

In this report combustion and exhaust emissions with neat diesel fuel and diesel-biodiesel blends have been investigated. In the investigation, firstly biodiesel from non-edible neem oil has been made by esterification. Biodiesel fuel (BDF) is chemically known as mono-alkyl fatty acid ester. It is renewable in nature and is derived from plant oils including vegetable oils. BDF is non-toxic, biodegradable, recycled resource and essentially free from sulfur and carcinogenic benzene. In the second phase of this investigation, experiment has been conducted with neat diesel fuel and diesel-biodiesel blends in a four stroke naturally aspirated (NA) direct injection (DI) diesel engine. Compared with conventional diesel fuel, diesel-biodiesel blends showed lower carbon monoxide (CO), and smoke emissions but higher oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emission. However, compared with the diesel fuel, NOx emission with diesel-biodiesel blends was slightly reduced when EGR was applied.

Experimental investigation of engine emissions with marine gas oil-oxygenate blends.

This paper investigates the diesel engine performance and exhaust emissions with marine gas oil-alternative fuel additive. Marine gas oil (MGO) was selected as base fuel for the engine experiments. An oxygenate, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DGM), and a biodiesel (BD) jatropha oil methyl ester (JOME) with a volume of 10% were blended with the MGO fuel. JOME was derived from inedible jatropha oil. Lower emissions with diesel-BD blends (soybean methyl ester, rapeseed methyl ester etc.) have been established so far, but the effect of MGO-BD (JOME) blends on engine performance and emissions has been a growing interest as JOME (BD) is derived from inedible oil and MGO is frequently used in maritime transports. No phase separation between MGO-DGM and MGO-JOME blends was found. The neat MGO, MGO-DGM and MGO-JOME blends are termed as MGO, Ox10 and B10 respectively. The experiments were conducted with a six-cylinder, four-stroke, turbocharged, direct-injection Scania DC 1102 (DI) diesel engine. The experimental results showed significant reductions in fine particle number and mass emissions, PM and smoke emissions with Ox10 and B10 fuels compared to the MGO fuel. Other emissions including total unburned hydrocarbon (THC), carbon monoxide (CO) and engine noise were also reduced with the Ox10 and B10 fuels, while maintaining similar brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and thermal efficiency with MGO fuel. Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions, on the other hand, were slightly higher with the Ox10 and B10 fuels at high engine load conditions.