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Bhutan is a small nation in the eastern Himalayas, between two of the world's largest neighbors and fastest-growing economies; China, and India. The GDP of the country is $2.707 Billion as of 2022. Bhutan’s largest renewable source is hydropower, which has a known potential of 30,000 MW. However, it has only been able to harvest only 1,480 MW (5% of the potential). The current overall electrification rate is 99% overall with 98.4% in rural areas. It exports 75.5% of total electricity generated in the country to India. However, the reliable supply of electricity remains a big challenge. The government is also pushing the use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind to diversify the energy mix and enhance the power security of the country. The share of renewable energy is very minimal at present amounting to 723 kW Solar PV and 600 kW Wind power.

Lead (Pb) bronze material is used for the manufacturing of bearings. Lead provides less friction and wear-related properties to bronze. During working of the bearings the lead contained micro-chips mixes with the lubricant oil and makes its disposal difficult. Rotational speed and applied load are the two main parameters on which the working and amount of wear from the bearing depend. So it is important to find out an optimum set of speed and pressure on which a particular bearing should operate to minimize the wear and hence minimize the lead-contaminated lubricating oil. In the present work, Taguchi technique has been used to find out the optimum values of speed and pressure. To measure the specific wear rate (SWR) and coefficient of friction (COF) of the leaded bronze material, it is made to slide on a mild steel material and amount of wear and coefficient of friction has been recorded using a pin on disc machine using ASTM-G99 standards.

Metal matrix composites have a large range of applications in the automobile industry due to its characteristics and properties. Al-based MMC have aluminum as matrix metal that has properties which are well concerned with the automobile industry. Some of these properties are high strength to weight ratio and lightweight. In this paper we are trying to develop aluminum-based metal matrix composite (MMC) reinforced with natural fibers ashes, we are using fine ashes of Sugarcane (bagasse), Groundnut Shell Ash (GSA), Rice Husk Ash (RHA) and Coconut shell (Jute) ash, different effects are investigated for different percentage of reinforcing material which is being produced by burning in a free atmosphere. Ball milling is used for making fine particle size of different natural fibers ash. Nine samples were made by the stir casting process consisting of Al6063 as base metal and different concentration of reinforcement.

The power generation, agriculture, and transportation sectors are dominated by diesel engines due to better thermal efficiency and durability. Diesel engines are also a major contributor to the air pollutants such as NOx and particulate matter. Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) is considered a promising alternative fuel as it emits less pollutants compared to conventional fuels. In current work, the ABE used was of the ratio (3:6:1) and four samples were prepared for engine trial ABE (10%90%diesel), ABE (20%80%diesel), ABE (30%70%diesel) and ABE (40%60%diesel). Their physio-chemical properties like kinematic viscosity, density, specific gravity and calorific value were checked and tested on compression ignition engine at different operating parameters. The experimental work was conducted upon Kirloskar 4-stroke single cylinder, vertical, air-cooled 661cc compression ignition engine at different speeds and loads.

In view of the rapid depletion, increasing prices and uneven distribution of conventional petroleum fuels; the interest in the use of alternative fuels has increased exponentially. Fuels such as biodiesel & alcohol have been evaluated both at experimental and commercial scale due to improved emission characteristics as compared to conventional fuels. Alcohols are oxygenated and result in improving the engine performance. As a blend with conventional gasoline, the alcohols enhance the premixed and diffusive combustion phase which improves the combustion efficiency. The present investigation evaluates studies on stability and homogeneity along with physicochemical properties like density, viscosity, calorific value, copper-strip corrosion and solubility at room temperature of Propan-2-ol and gasoline blends. Comprehensive engine trials on unmodified petrol engine fuelled with blends of Propan-2-ol and gasoline blends in the proportions of 5, 10, 15 and 20% by volume have been conducted.

Biodiesel is a potential substitute for diesel and extensive research is carried in India on production and utilization of biodiesel from a variety of edible/non-edible, animal fat and waste oils. However, issues like stability, clogging, increased NOx, and high consumption rate etc. are some of the critical issues which are associated with long-term use of these alternative fuels in a diesel engine. The recent developments in science and technology may have concreted a method to create nano measure vigorous resources that have incredible benefits to micron sized constituents. Nano liquids may be a fresh period of compact-fluid complex constituents comprising of nano sized concrete elements disseminated into a base liquid. The present study investigates the effect of doping metal oxides nanoparticles with waste fish oil-based biodiesel. For the present study, the blends of fuel are prepared by using 30ppm each of titanium dioxide and alumina nanoparticles respectively.

Biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester, or FAME) can be used as an alternative fuel for diesel engines which is produced by the chemical reaction of vegetable oil or animal fat with an alcohol such as ethanol or methanol in the presence of a catalyst. The growing interest in biodiesel is because of the similarity in its properties when compared with the diesel fuel as well as various benefits it provides such as lower soot emissions, less dependency on crude oil, etc. The optimization of experimental parameters, such as catalyst concentration, molar ratio of alcohol to oil, and reaction time, on the transesterification for the production of deodar methyl ester was performed in this article. Optimization of the transesterification process of deodar oil was achieved by a three-factorial central composite design (CCD) using response surface methodology (RSM) in 20 experimental runs. The RSM was performed to determine the optimum operating conditions and to optimize the biodiesel yield.

As petroleum prices are rising continuously biodiesel production has been receiving worldwide awareness. Thus for its production the requirement for non-edible and unidentified feedstocks has risen. This research presents the production and process optimization of biodiesel obtained from non-edible feedstock namely cedar wood(Cedrus deodara) oil, with response surface methodology using statistical software minitab 18.0. Cedar Wood (Cedrus deodara) is a tree accessible in different parts of the world like India and Nepal. In Indian context, these are available in abundance especially in the forests of Himalayan region as a non-edible feedstock. Methyl ester of Cedar Wood Oil is prepared by process known as Transesterification. The FFA content of cedar wood oil was 0.5% which is below the 2% suggested for the application of the one step alkaline transesterification method.

Wind energy is clean and renewable source of energy that is an attractive alternative to non-conventional sources of energy. Due to rapid increase in global energy requirements, this form of energy is gaining its share of importance. Unlike nuclear power or tar sand oils, wind energy does not leave a long-term toxic legacy. Using MATLAB algorithms, multi-optimization of wind turbine design can be achieved. Therefore, an aerodynamic mathematical model is developed to obtain the optimal chord length and twist angle distribution along the blade span. Further, a promising generic blade design is used to initialize a detailed structure optimization wherein leading edge panel (LEP), Spar cap, Shear web, Trailing edge panel (TEP) reinforcement are sized using composite laminates so that the blade is according to the intended design standard. Initially blade airfoils are analyzed on 2D platform and then the results are used to construct 3D model of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) blade.

Study of starting friction during the running of the engineering application has an important role in designing them, especially working at low speed and high load conditions. A significant portion of research and development today is concentrated on saving the energy by reducing the friction. The present paper addresses the measurement technique and analysis of the starting friction during the running of the journal bearing. The experiments were performed during the hydrodynamic lubrication regime using SAE 15W-30 lubricating oil. A journal bearing having journal diameter as 22 mm, length/diameter ratio 1 and 0.027 mm radial clearance has been designed and fabricated to test the starting friction. Analysis of starting friction and average friction torque during the running of journal bearing was done at 900, 1150, 1400, 1650, 1900, 2150 and 2400 revolution per minute (rpm) speed of the journal at load values of 250, 400 and 500 N.

The use of alternative fuel has many advantages and the main ones are its renewability, biodegradability with better quality exhaust gas emission, which do not contribute to raise the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The use of non-edible vegetables oils as an alternative fuels for diesel engine is accelerated by the energy crisis due to depletion of resources and increase in environmental problems. In Asian countries like India, great need of edible oil as a food so cannot use these oils as alternative fuels for diesel engine. However there are many issues related to the use of vegetable oils in diesel engine that is high viscosity, low calorific value, high self-ignition temperature etc. Jatropha curcas has been promoted in India as a sustainable substitute to diesel fuel. This research prepared micro emulsions of ethanol and Jatropha vegetable oil in different ratio and find out the physico-chemical parameters to compare with mineral diesel oil.

The increment in the application of fossil fuels is leading the world into a catastrophic state both environmentally and economically. Current demand for fuels exceeds its imminent supply and rather sooner than later energy demands will have to shift towards non-conventional fuels to cope with the situation. With constant developments in the automotive sector, several solutions have been found but none have been as good as gasoline to substitute it in the commercial market. One such solution being compressed air might solve this global fuel crisis, which serves a glowing advantage of being cheaper and greener as it produces zero tail-pipe emissions, and can help in decreasing automobile’s contribution to global warming. Though the potential energy stored in the compressed air limits its application to light duty vehicles and still there will be a need for other alternative solutions for the heavy duty vehicles in order to relieve the pressure from the fossil fuels.

Dependency and increase in use of fossil fuels is leading to its depletion and raises serious environmental concerns. There are international obligations to reduce emissions and requirements to strengthen security of fuel supply which is pressuring the automobile industry to use cleaner and more sustainable fuels. Hydrogen fits these criteria as it is not just an abundant alternative but also a clean propellant and Hydrogen engines represent an economic alternative to fuel cells. In the present investigation, EGR has been used on hydrogen boosted SI engine running on gasoline-methanol and ethanol-gasoline blends to determine the additional advantages of the same compared to pure gasoline operation and gasoline-methanol and ethanol-gasoline blends without EGR.

Rapid depletion in fuel resources owing to the low efficiency of current automobiles has been a major threat to future generations for fuel availability as well as environmental health. Advanced new generation of internal combustion (IC) engines are expected to have far better emissions levels both gaseous (NOx and CO) and particulate matter, at the same time having far lower fuel consumption on a wide range of operating condition. These criteria could be improved having a homogeneous combustion process in an engine. Homogeneous mixing of fuel and air in HCCI leads to cleaner combustion and lower emissions. Since peak temperatures are significantly lower than in typical SI engines, NOx levels and soot are reduced to some extent. Because of absence of complete homogeneous combustion but quasi homogeneous combustion present in HCCI, there is still a possibility of further reducing the emissions as well as enhancing the engine performance.

Enhancement of combustion behavior of conventional liquid fuel using nanoscale materials of different properties is an imaginative and futuristic topic. This experiment is aimed to evaluate the performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine when lade with nanoparticles of Cu-Zn alloy. The previous work reported the effect of metal/metal oxide or heterogeneous mixture of two or more particles; less work had been taken to analyze the homogeneous mixture of metals. This paper includes fuel properties such as density, kinematic viscosity, calorific value and performance measures like brake thermal efficiency (BTE), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and emission analysis of NOX, CO, CO2, HC. For the same solid concentration, nano-fuel is compared with base fuel at different engine loads; and its effect when lade at different concentrations.

The diesel engine has for many decades now assumed a leading role in both the medium and medium-large transport sector due to their high efficiency and ability to produce high torque at low RPM. Furthermore, energy diversification and petroleum independence are also required by each country. In response to this, biodiesel is being considered as a promising solution due to its high calorific value and lubricity conventional petroleum diesel. However, commercial use of biodiesel has been limited because of some drawbacks including corrosivity, instability of fuel properties, higher viscosity, etc. Biodiesel are known for lower CO, HC and PM emissions. But, on the flip side they produce higher NOx emissions. The addition of alcohol to biodiesel diesel blend can help in reducing high NOx produced by the biodiesel while improving some physical fuel properties.

The energy crisis coupled with depleting fuel reserves and rising emission levels has encouraged research in the fields of performance enhancement, emission reduction technologies and engineering designs. The present paper aims primarily to offset the problem of high emissions and low efficiencies in low cost CI engines used as temporary power solutions on a large scale. The investigation relates to the low cost optimization of an intake runner having the ability to vary the swirl ratio within the runner. Test runs reveal that NOx and CO2 follow a relatively smaller gradient of rise and fall in their values depending on the configuration; whereas UHC and CO have a rapid changes in values with larger gradients. However, in a relative analysis, no configuration was able to simultaneously reduce all emission parameters and thus, there exists a necessity to find an optimized configuration as a negotiation between the improved and deteriorated parameters.

Recent scenario of fossil fuel depletion as well as rising emission levels has witnessed an ever aggravating trend for decades. The solution to the problems has been addressed by investments and research in the field of fuels; such as the use of cleaner fuels involving biodiesel, alcohol blends, hydrogen and electric drivelines, as well as improvement in traditional technologies such as variable geometry systems, VVT load control strategies etc. The developments have highlighted the enormous potential present in such systems in terms of maximizing engine efficiency and emission reductions. The present paper aims at designing and implementing an intake runner system for a CI engine capable of providing flexibility with variations in operating conditions. Primarily, the design aims at altering the air flow phenomenon within the primary intake of the engine by inducing swirl in the runner through a secondary runner.

Gasoline has been the major fuel in transportation, its good calorific value and high volatility have made it suitable for use in different injection methods. The drastic increase in use of carbon based fuels has led to increase in harmful emissions, thus resulting in implementation of stricter emissions norms. These harmful emissions include carbon monoxide and NOx. To meet the new norms and reduce the harmful emissions, better techniques have to be implemented to achieve better combustion of gasoline and reduce the amount of carbon monoxide in the exhaust. One such way of doing this is by enriching gasoline with hydrogen. Due to its low activation energy and high calorific value, the high energy released from hydrogen can be used to achieve complete combustion of gasoline fuel. However, there are certain drawbacks to the use of hydrogen in spark ignition engine, knocking and overheating of engine parts being the major problems.

The continued reliance on fossil fuel energy resources is not sufficient to cater to the current energy demands. The excessive and continuous use of crude oil is now recognized as unviable due to its depleting supplies and elevating environmental degradation by increased emissions from automobile exhaust. There is an urgent need for a renewable and cleaner source of energy to meet the stringent emission norms. Hythane is a mixture of 20% hydrogen and 80% methane. It has benefits of low capital and operating costs and is a cleaner alternative than crude oil. It significantly reduces tailpipe emissions and is the cheapest way to meet new emission standards that is BS-IV. Hythane produces low carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrocarbons (HC) on combustion than crude oil and helps in reduction of greenhouse gases.