Performance of sludge palm oil combustion using waste oil burner

Sludge palm oil (SPO) is one of the wastes produced during the activity of palm oil milling process. The most common method to synthesise biodiesel from SPO is through a chemical process known as esterification and transesterification. The chemical process required additional cost and time. Hence this paper aims to evaluate the utilisation of SPO directly as fuel in burner system and compare with conventional diesel. The SPO studied contain free fatty acid (FFA) content about 30 %, density and viscosity at 0.982 g/cm3 and 67.76 mm2/s respectively which is higher than diesel. The maximum combustion temperature achieved was 869 °C lower than diesel, 891 °C. Lower CO, CO2 and NOx emission during combustion compare to diesel around 34 %, 6% and 90 % reduction respectively. The low combustion temperature, flame length and emission due to the high viscosity of SPO compare to diesel. Fuel spray and flow was affected by viscosity which lowers the combustibility and consumption of SPO. SPO show great properties and combustion performance as fuel for burner system and improvement can make it even better

Water content determination of steam generated water-in-diesel emulsion

Emulsion fuel is one of the prevalent NOx and PM reducing techniques in compression ignition engines. An alternative method to produce emulsion is by mixing steam into diesel involving the condensation of water in the immiscible diesel. The converted steam into water, however, is difficult to determine. Hence, this paper describes a method of estimating the water content of the produced emulsion by using heat balance and Jakob’s number equations. Experiments were performed by using a custom designed 250 ml glass column, where final temperatures of the emulsion were recorded, and distillation of the sample was performed to analyze the water content. The results were compared with the equations where Jakob’s number model delivers a closer estimate of the experimental values (maximum difference 5.90%) than the heat balance equation (maximum difference 7.93%)

Engine performance and exhaust emission analysis of a single cylinder diesel engine fuelled with water-diesel emulsion fuel blended with manganese metal additives

Water-in-diesel emulsion fuel (W/D) is one of the alternative fuels that capable to reduce the exhaust emission of diesel engine significantly especially the nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). However, the usage of W/D emulsion fuels contributed to higher CO emissions. Supplementing metal additive into the fuel is the alternate way to reduce the CO emissions and improve performance. The present paper investigates the effect of using W/D blended with organic based manganese metal additives on the diesel engine performance and exhaust emission. The test were carried out by preparing and analysing the results observed from five different tested fuel which were D2, emulsion fuel (E10: 89% D2, 10% - water, 1% - surfactant), E10Mn100, E10Mn150, E10Mn200. Organic based Manganese (100ppm, 150ppm, 200ppm) used as the additive in the three samples of the experiments. E10Mn200 achieved the maximum reduction of BSFC up to 13.66% and has the highest exhaust gas temperature. Whereas, E10Mn150 achieved the highest reduction of CO by 14.67%, and slightly increased of NOx emissions as compared to other emulsion fuels. Organic based manganese which act as catalyst promotes improvement of the emulsion fuel performance and reduced the harmful emissions discharged

Diesel engine fuel consumption and emission analysis using steam generated non-surfactant water-in-diesel emulsion fuel

Efforts in making water in diesel emulsion (W/D) with the absence of surfactant have been developed to address the issues of long-term stability and the dependence on surfactants. This paper discusses an alternative formation method of a non-surfactant W/D, e.g. by steam condensation. By injecting steam into a batch of colder diesel fuel, fine water droplets are formed and suspended in the fuel forming an emulsion. The droplets are confirmed to be in the size range of hundreds of nanometers. The emissions of NOx is reduced by a maximum of 71%, whereas the CO and UHC emissions are increased by maximum respectively 180% and a surprising 517%. Not less interesting is the lower BSFC which was measured at a maximum reduction of 18.4%. These results on emission analysis together with the brake specific fuel consumption confirm this method to resemble the combustion behaviour of a conventional emulsion fuel of lower NOx and BSFC, yet higher CO and UHC

Comparison of diesel engine performance between a mechanical pump and a common rail fuel injection system equipped with real-time non-surfactant emulsion fuel supply system

The global focus in emulsion fuels is due to the advantages over conventional diesel fuels. It has the capabilities to simultaneously reduce the emissions of NOx and smoke. It also said to reduce the fuel consumption of diesel engine by significant percentages. However, due to the interdependency on surfactant, emulsion fuel does not seem to be possible as alternative fuel in an economic perspective. This is because of the high market price of the commercial surfactant. Therefore, this research focused on non-surfactant W/D that produced by a system known as Real-Time Non-Surfactant Emulsion Fuel Supply System (RTES). RTES has been applied with the goal of investigating the impact on exhaust emissions and fuel consumption of a mechanical pump fuel injection system diesel vehicle (MP) and a common rail fuel injection system diesel vehicle (CR). A one-ton truck represents as MP (Mechanical Pump) and an SUV represent as CR (Common rail) are the test vehicles for the said research. The non-surfactant W/D with 6.5 wt.% of water produced by the RTES used as the test fuel and named as E6.5. It has been emulsified in the RTES right before being injected into the diesel vehicles. The testing was performed on a chassis dynamometer following the West Virginia University 5-peak cycles. The findings show that the utilization of non-surfactant W/D has increased the fuel consumption by 7.39% for MP and 3.2% for CR respectively as compared with base diesel fuel. NOx, smoke emissions and exhaust temperature have significantly reduced by the MP relative to CR vehicles. Overall, the concept of non-surfactant W/D seems to have implementation potential for reducing harmful emissions from both diesel-powered vehicles

Integration of real-time non-surfactant emulsion fuel system on light duty lorry

Interest in water-in-diesel emulsion fuel (W/D) grows because of its advantages in improving fuel efficiency, reducing greenhouse emissions and retaining the quality of the lubrication oil. Recently, a device called Real-Time Non-Surfactant Emulsion Fuel System (RTES) have successfully created an emulsion without surfactant for a 5kW single-cylinder diesel engine generator. This study integrates the RTES into a light duty lorry, and the effect of the integration is investigated. The lorry was tested on a chassis dynamometer with a controlled 16.6% water ratio. The results show how fuel consumption is reduced by 7.1% compared to neat diesel. Moreover, the exhaust emission of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) is reduced by 52%, while as observed in other works, carbon monoxides (CO) emission also increased, in this case by 41.6%. This integration concluded to retain similar benefits and disadvantages as tested on the 5.5kW diesel generator

Performance and emissions of diesel engine with circulation nonsurfactant emulsion fuel system

Diesel engine is known for its durable operation and capability of utilizing various type of fuels, however, dangerous exhaust emissions are emitted from diesel engines. Nonsurfactant emulsion fuel is a potential fuel for diesel engine to reduce for Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and Particulate matter (PM) emission compare to conventional diesel fuel in a diesel engine. In this study, emulsion fuel was prepared using a mixer known as Circulation Non-Surfactant Emulsion Fuel System. The study carried out with different water percentages in the emulsion fuel given as follows: 3%, 6%, and 9% and at a different engine load condition from 1-4 kW with a constant speed of 3200 rpm. Results show that, 6% emulsion fuel shows average 4.38% reduction in NOx emission and 1.10% reduction in fuel consumption. 9% emulsion fuel show higher amount of CO emission compare to Diesel while it reduces CO2 emission. Overall, 6% when prepared are recommended for the formation of non-surfactant emulsion fuel

Real-time water-in-diesel emulsion fuel production system for diesel electric generator

This research focused on the design and development of a novel emulsion fuel making device that can eliminate emulsion fuel main weaknesses; stability issues and high dependency of surfactant. The device is called Real-Time Water-in- Diesel Emulsion Fuel Production System (RTES) and utilized for the diesel electric generator application. The concept of RTES device consists of fuel and water which being stored in different units. These two immiscible liquids are transferred and instantaneously being emulsified by a mixing system before the produced emulsion fuel is injected into the combustion chamber. The research started with engine performance and emission test using water-in-diesel emulsion as fuel under various water percentages (5, 10, 15 and 20 %). The water content that gives optimum impact of engine performance and emission was selected to be used in RTES. Next, emulsion fuel stability test was conducted where different mixing equipments and conditions were tested to mix water and diesel without the existence of surfactant. The findings are used as reference to generate the conceptual design in the design process of the RTES. RTES device was then developed and tested onto the 0.406 litre, single-cylinder, four-stroke, air-cooled diesel engine. The engine testing result showed that emulsion fuel without surfactant made by RTES does gives significant improvement to the engine with the 3.59 % increase in brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and 3.89% reduction in brake specific fuel consumption as compared to diesel fuel. In addition, Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and Particulate Matter (PM) contents in the exhaust emission reduced significantly compared to neat diesel fuel with the average reduction of 31.66% and 16.33% respectively. Overall, RTES device proved that emulsion fuel can be used in the engine without the existence of surfactant while maintaining its benefits which are greener exhaust emission and fuel saving

The effect of tap water emulsified fuel on exhaust emission of single cylinder compression ignition engine

An experimental investigation on exhaust emissions with emulsion fuel was conducted in a diesel engine that equipped with a “Real Time Non-Surfactant Emulsion Fuel Supply System, RTES” under four different loads operations (1, 2, 3 and 4 kW). RTES is a mixing device that able to produces non-surfactant emulsion fuel which is one of the alternative ways to improve the exhaust emissions of diesel engine, especially Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and Particulate Matter (PM). As for the test fuel, neat diesel (D2) and tap water-in-diesel emulsion fuel (W/D) are tested as a comparison. Based on the experimental results, emulsion fuel decrease NOx radically compare to D2 in all load conditions with an average reduction of 18.99% respectively. As for the PM, emulsion fuel is lower compare to D2 at all load conditions and lowest at high load. However, tap water emulsion fuel shows high formation of Carbon Monoxide (CO) at all load conditions which due to lower combustion temperature. This significant increment is aligned with the reduction of NOx emissions