As an environmentally friendly water-soluble polymer, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) has attracted extensive attention because of its non-toxic, degradable, low cost, and good biocompatibility. Electrospinning is a kind of nanotechnology, and the nanofiber membrane prepared by it has the advantages of large surface area-to-volume ratios, nano- to micron-sized fibers, etc. Herein, a simple and facile one-step green electrospinning method was developed to fabricate various environmentally friendly PVA nanofiber membranes. The lipophilic properties of PVA membranes were investigated and optimized according different PVA concentrations. The PVA electrospun fiber prepared from the solution at a concentration of 10 wt% had the highest adsorption capacity for the adsorption of new and waste engine oils, and the waste engine oil adsorption capacity (12.70 g/g) was higher than that of new engine oil (11.67 g/g). It also has a relatively large BET surface area (12.05 m²/g), a pore volume (0.04 cm³/g), and an appropriate pore diameter (13.69 nm) and fiber diameter (174.21 nm). All electrospun PVA membranes showed excellent lipophilic properties due to their oil contact angles of much less than 30°. Therefore, PVA electrospun fibrous membranes have great application potential in the field of purifying engine oil due to the excellent lipophilic properties and oil absorption capacity.

In this study, we investigated the effects of canola oil biodiesel (BD) to improve combustion and exhaust emissions in a common rail direct injection (DI) diesel engine using BD fuel blended with diesel. Experiments were conducted with BD blend amounts of 10%, 20%, and 30% on a volume basis under various engine speeds. As the BD blend ratio increased, the combustion pressure and indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) decreased slightly at the low engine speed of 1500 rpm, while they increased at the middle engine speed of 2500 rpm. The brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) increased at all engine speeds while the carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) emissions were considerably reduced. On the other hand, the nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions only increased slightly. When increasing the BD blend ratio at an engine speed of 2000 rpm with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rates of 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30%, the combustion pressure and IMEP tended to decrease. The CO and PM emissions decreased in proportion to the BD blend ratio. Also, the NO_x emissions decreased considerably as the EGR rate increased whereas the BD blend ratio only slightly influenced the NO_x emissions.

Biodiesel as a clean energy source could reduce environmental pollution compared to fossil fuel, so it is becoming increasingly important. In this study, we investigated the effects of different pilot injection timings from before top dead center (BTDC) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on combustion, engine performance, and exhaust emission characteristics in a common rail diesel engine fueled with canola oil biodiesel-diesel (BD) blend. The pilot injection timing and EGR rate were changed at an engine speed of 2000 rpm fueled with BD20 (20 vol % canola oil and 80 vol % diesel fuel blend). As the injection timing advanced, the combustion pressure, brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), and peak combustion pressure (P_max) changed slightly. Carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) emissions clearly decreased at BTDC 20° compared with BTDC 5°, but nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions increased slightly. With an increasing EGR rate, the combustion pressure and indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) decreased slightly at BTDC 20° compared to other injection timings. However, the P_max showed a remarkable decrease. The BSFC and PM emissions increased slightly, but the NO_x emission decreased considerably.

In this study, the application effects of canola oil biodiesel/diesel blends in a common rail diesel engine was experimentally investigated. The test fuels were denoted as ULSD (ultra low sulfur diesel), BD20 (20% canola oil blended with 80% ULSD by volume), and PCO (pure canola oil), respectively. These three fuels were tested under an engine speed of 1500 rpm with various brake mean effective pressures (BMEPs). The results indicated that PCO can be used well in the diesel engine without engine modification, and that BD20 can be used as a good alternative fuel to reduce the exhaust pollution. In addition, at low engine loads (0.13 MPa and 0.26 MPa), the combustion pressure of PCO is the smallest, compared with BD20 and ULSD, because the lower calorific value of PCO is lower than that of ULSD. However, at high engine loads (0.39 MPa and 0.52 MPa), the rate of heat release (ROHR) of BD20 is the highest because the canola oil biodiesel is an oxygenated fuel that promotes combustion, shortening the ignition delay period. For exhaust emissions, by using canola oil biodiesel, the particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were considerably reduced with increased BMEP. The nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions increased only slightly due to the inherent presence of oxygen in biodiesel.

This study proposes a new wire magnetic abrasive finishing (WMAF) process for finishing 316L SUS wire using ecological magnetic abrasive tools. 316L SUS wire is a biomaterial that is generally used in medical applications (e.g., coronary stent, orthodontics, and implantation). In medical applications of this material, a smooth surface is commonly required. Therefore, a new WMAF process using ecological magnetic abrasive tools was developed to improve the surface quality and physical properties of this biomaterial. In this study, the WMAF process of 316L SUS wire is separated into two finishing processes: (i) WMAF with ecological magnetic abrasive tools, and (ii) WMAF with industrial magnetic abrasive tools. The ecological magnetic abrasive tools consist of cuttlefish bone abrasives, olive oil, electrolytic iron powder, and diamond abrasive paste. The finishing characteristics of the two types of abrasive tools were also explored for different input parameters (i.e., vibrating magnetic field and rotating magnetic field). The results show that ecological magnetic abrasive tools can improve the initial surface roughness of 316L SUS wire from 0.23 µm to 0.06 µm. It can be concluded that ecological magnetic abrasive tools can replace industrial magnetic abrasive tools.

Palm oil is one of the most common and productive vegetable oils, so it is often used as an excellent feedstock for biodiesel production. However, due to the high viscosity and other issues of palm oil, it cannot be directly used as an alternative fuel for diesel engines unless some treatment is carried out. In this study, the effects of palm oil-diesel blend fuel on the nitrogen oxides (NOx)–smoke trade-off characteristics were investigated in a common rail direct injection (CRDI) diesel engine under various injection pressures and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rates. It was found that NOx and smoke from the combustion of fuel containing 50% palm oil (P50D50) were simultaneously suppressed by 3% and 3.1% compared with diesel fuel at an injection pressure of 400 bar, respectively. The performance of P50D50 was comparable to that of diesel, but at high injection pressure and high EGR rate, it showed shorter ignition delay (ID) and lower smoke emission.