Soot formation characteristics of palm methyl ester spray in counterflow

Abstract

Soot formation characteristics of PME liquid fuel are investigated experimentally. The effects of droplet size distribution on soot formation characteristics are focused in this study. The droplet size distribution is controlled by using a vibratory orifice atomizer. A laminar counterflow spray burner is utilized as the combustion field. The soot formation characteristics of PME are measured by Laser Induced Incandescence (LII) and Time Resolved LII. Results show that the soot volume fraction increased with the increase of mean droplet size of PME fuel spray. It can be considered that the increase of the penetration and the decrease of evaporation rate associated with the increase of the mean droplet size of fuel spray, are the main reason of this inclination. In addition, soot formation is locally suppressed at the center of spray flame. These inclinations are similar to that of the hydrocarbon liquid fuel (n-dodecane) that has smaller molar weight than that of PME, since PME has oxygen in the molecule.