LAUSR

This study reports the impact of a biodiesel, produced from inedible neem oil through a transesterification process, on the formation and physicochemical properties of soot from diesel/biodiesel blends. A smoke point test for the diesel/biodiesel blends is presented that reveals a nonlinear reduction in the sooting propensity of diesel with increasing proportion of neem-biodiesel in the blends. Soot particles from the diffusion flames of pure diesel and a diesel/biodiesel blend are analyzed through thermogravimetric analysis, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy techniques. Soot from the blended fuel was found to be more reactive in air than that from pure diesel. To understand and explain the reactivity differences, the nanostructural changes (the sizes of aromatics and the primary particles comprising soot, and the thickness of the nanocrystallites) along w...