Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Flame Characteristics of Vaporized
Renewable Fuels and Their Blends
with Petroleum Fuels
Subramanyam Gollahalli, Ramkumar Parthasarathy
and Arun Balakrishnan
Abstract In order to obtain a fundamental understanding of the thermo-chemical
processes and pollutant formation during the combustion of biofuels and their
blends, laminar partially premixed
flames of palm methyl ester (PME) were studied
and compared with those of Jet-A. The fuels were prevaporized and mixed with
heated air and injected out of a stainless steel circular tube with a beveled rim. The
fuel
fl
flow rates were varied to obtain
injector-exit equivalence ratios of 2, 3, and 7. In addition to global CO and NO
emission indices and
fl
flow rate was maintained constant and the air
fl
fl
flame radiation, temperature, gas concentration, and soot
volume fraction pro
flame heights. The measure-
ments highlighted the effects of fuel-bound oxygen in PME. The PME
les were measured at different
fl
fl
ames had
less soot content than the corresponding Jet-A
ames; the temperature measure-
ments implied differences in the soot particle size and morphology formed during
the combustion of biofuels.
fl
Keywords Global and in-flame combustion characteristics
Partially premixed
fl
ames
Radiative fraction of heat release
Equivalence ratio
NO x
formation
Soot formation
1 Introduction
Renewable fuels such as biodiesels and bioalcohols have emerged as attractive
alternate energy sources in recent years. These fuels can be produced from
renewable feedstocks; they are carbon-neutral and are low in sulfur content.
Moreover, they can be produced from locally grown biomass and thus promote
energy security. Also, these biofuels can be directly used in existing combustors
with minimal modi
cations. The key to the successful use and consumer acceptance
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