Tajik scientists develop cotton-based additive to reduce diesel emissions

Tajik researchers have developed a domestic fuel additive made from cotton-processing waste that they say can significantly reduce smoke and harmful emissions from diesel engines. The development was led by Mansour Yunusov, Candidate of Sciences in Engineering, together with a team of researchers. The additive is designed to reduce soot emissions from diesel vehicles, which are widely used for freight and passenger transport in Tajikistan. The researchers say the technology could be particularly relevant for Dushanbe, where geographical conditions can contribute to the accumulation of air pollutants, as well as for the country’s mountainous areas, where black carbon from vehicle exhaust can settle on snow and glaciers.

“Exhaust from a single truck in the valley is both a harm to the lungs of city residents here and an accelerated melting of a glacier somewhere high up in the mountains,” Yunusov says. From co tton waste to fuel additive The idea emerged as the researchers looked for a practical way to reduce diesel emissions without replacing the country’s existing vehicle fleet. According to Yunusov, converting large numbers of diesel vehicles, particularly trucks operating in mountainous areas, to electric power is not currently feasible. The researchers therefore focused on improving the combustion of existing diesel fuel. One of the main challenges was finding an affordable alternative to conventional additives, some of which are based on expensive barium compounds. The team instead developed an additive based on iron and fatty acids derived from cottonseed oil , using waste from the country’s cotton industry. Only 0. 1–0. 3% of the concentrate is added to diesel fuel. According to the researchers, the iron compounds act as a catalyst, helping soot particles burn more…