Single droplet combustion characteristics of petroleum diesel-philippine tung biodiesel blends

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of fuel blending of petroleum diesel and biodiesel made from Philippine Tung on the combustion characteristics of fuel droplets. In this study, petroleum diesel was mixed with biodiesel at volume percentages of 0 to 100 % to produce 5 fuel blends. The ratios of fuel blends (petroleum volume/biodiesel volume) were 100:0 (P100), 75:25 (BP25), 50:50 (BP50), 25:75 (BP75) and 0:100 (B100). Single droplet combustion experiments were prepared to understand the combustion characteristics at 3 levels of ambient pressure (100, 200 and 300 kPa). Observations were carried out on the ignition delay time, the burning rate constant, droplet temperature, and the flame visualization. The results showed some effects of the adding of biodiesel in petroleum diesel and the chamber pressure on droplet combustion characteristics. The adding of biodiesel into petroleum diesel resulted in a shorter ignition delay time and higher burning rate constants. But, the lower heating value of biodiesel caused the lower flame temperature. The possibility of micro-explosion also increased due to the mixing of fuel. On the other hand, increasing the chamber pressure also resulted in shorter ignition delay, higher burning rate, and higher combustion temperature. The higher ambient pressure also compressed the flame dimension and enhanced the onset of micro-explosion.