• Energy Research

Abstract The use of high viscosity biodiesel resulted in poor fuel injection pump performance, leading to a decrease in diesel engine performance. This problem is expected to be solved by preheating high-viscosity fuel. This study aims to investigate effect of preheating temperature of biodiesel-diesel fuel blends on fuel spray characteristic and injection pump performance. The study was conducted by using a fuel injection system apparatus in which the fuel was supplied into an injector using a single-plunger fuel injection pump. Several biodiesel-diesel blends were tested at preheating temperatures of 30 °C–70 °C. Fuel spray pattern was taken using a high speed camera. The result showed that preheating temperature highly influenced fuel spray characteristic and injection pump performance. The higher the biodiesel-diesel fuel blends, the higher the preheating temperatures were needed. Injection pump and injector required different fuel preheating temperatures for obtaining better performance. For B100, the best conditions were obtained at 50 °C for injection pump and 70 °C for fuel injector that produce almost similar pump efficiency and fuel spray cone angle to diesel fuel. As a whole, a new option of fuel supply system for biodiesel and blends was proposed in order to overcome the transport difficulty of high viscosity fuels.

Abstract The use of high viscosity biodiesel resulted in poor fuel injection pump performance, leading to a decrease in diesel engine performance. This problem is expected to be solved by preheating high-viscosity fuel. This study aims to investigate effect of preheating temperature of biodiesel-diesel fuel blends on fuel spray characteristic and injection pump performance. The study was conducted by using a fuel injection system apparatus in which the fuel was supplied into an injector using a single-plunger fuel injection pump. Several biodiesel-diesel blends were tested at preheating temperatures of 30 °C–70 °C. Fuel spray pattern was taken using a high speed camera. The result showed that preheating temperature highly influenced fuel spray characteristic and injection pump performance. The higher the biodiesel-diesel fuel blends, the higher the preheating temperatures were needed. Injection pump and injector required different fuel preheating temperatures for obtaining better performance. For B100, the best conditions were obtained at 50 °C for injection pump and 70 °C for fuel injector that produce almost similar pump efficiency and fuel spray cone angle to diesel fuel. As a whole, a new option of fuel supply system for biodiesel and blends was proposed in order to overcome the transport difficulty of high viscosity fuels.

Abstract The goals of this study are to produce and to characterize bio-oil from pyrolysis and distillation of liquid samples in a microwave reactor. Waste cooking oil (WCO) and fresh cooking oil (FCO) were employed as the feedstocks. A 900 W microwave reactor was modified and filled with 300 g of charcoal. It was used for both pyrolysis and distillation experiments. The pyrolysis experiments were performed at various feed flow rates and temperatures ranging from 0.051 kg/h to 0.306 kg/h and 400 °C–550 °C, respectively. The sample was introduced continuously into the microwave reactor for 60 min. Nitrogen gas was also supplied to ensure pyrolysis condition. The bio-oil product was then distilled to obtain fuel fractions. The results showed that the products yield and bio-oils composition were strongly influenced by pyrolysis temperature and type of cooking oils, while there was almost no influence of feed flow rate under the investigated condition. The bio-oil contained 90−100 wt.% aliphatic hydrocarbons and the rest were aromatic hydrocarbons. The bio-oil produced from WCO contained more than 50 wt.% green-diesel (C10-C15) which was comparable to that from FCO. The green-diesel fraction showed good fuel properties agreement to that of fossil diesels. Overall, microwave-assisted pyrolysis and distillation processes are potential ways to convert problematic WCO into useful liquid bio-fuel and green-diesel fuel.

Abstract The goals of this study are to produce and to characterize bio-oil from pyrolysis and distillation of liquid samples in a microwave reactor. Waste cooking oil (WCO) and fresh cooking oil (FCO) were employed as the feedstocks. A 900 W microwave reactor was modified and filled with 300 g of charcoal. It was used for both pyrolysis and distillation experiments. The pyrolysis experiments were performed at various feed flow rates and temperatures ranging from 0.051 kg/h to 0.306 kg/h and 400 °C–550 °C, respectively. The sample was introduced continuously into the microwave reactor for 60 min. Nitrogen gas was also supplied to ensure pyrolysis condition. The bio-oil product was then distilled to obtain fuel fractions. The results showed that the products yield and bio-oils composition were strongly influenced by pyrolysis temperature and type of cooking oils, while there was almost no influence of feed flow rate under the investigated condition. The bio-oil contained 90−100 wt.% aliphatic hydrocarbons and the rest were aromatic hydrocarbons. The bio-oil produced from WCO contained more than 50 wt.% green-diesel (C10-C15) which was comparable to that from FCO. The green-diesel fraction showed good fuel properties agreement to that of fossil diesels. Overall, microwave-assisted pyrolysis and distillation processes are potential ways to convert problematic WCO into useful liquid bio-fuel and green-diesel fuel.

This study focused on improving the producer gas quality using radio frequency (RF) tar thermocatalytic treatment reactor. The producer gas containing tar, particles and water was directly passed at a particular flow rate into the RF reactor at various temperatures for catalytic and thermal treatments. Thermal treatment generates higher heating value of 5.76 MJ Nm(-3) at 1200°C. Catalytic treatments using both dolomite and Y-zeolite provide high tar and particles conversion efficiencies of about 97% on average. The result also showed that light poly-aromatic hydrocarbons especially naphthalene and aromatic compounds particularly benzene and toluene were still found even at higher reaction temperatures. Low energy intensive RF tar thermocatalytic treatment was found to be effective for upgrading the producer gas quality to meet the end user requirements and increasing its energy content.

This study focused on improving the producer gas quality using radio frequency (RF) tar thermocatalytic treatment reactor. The producer gas containing tar, particles and water was directly passed at a particular flow rate into the RF reactor at various temperatures for catalytic and thermal treatments. Thermal treatment generates higher heating value of 5.76 MJ Nm(-3) at 1200°C. Catalytic treatments using both dolomite and Y-zeolite provide high tar and particles conversion efficiencies of about 97% on average. The result also showed that light poly-aromatic hydrocarbons especially naphthalene and aromatic compounds particularly benzene and toluene were still found even at higher reaction temperatures. Low energy intensive RF tar thermocatalytic treatment was found to be effective for upgrading the producer gas quality to meet the end user requirements and increasing its energy content.

A new effective RF tar thermocatalytic treatment process with low energy intensive has been proposed to remove tar from biomass gasification. Toluene and naphthalene as biomass tar model compounds were removed via both thermal and catalytic treatment over a wide temperature range from 850 °C to 1200 °C and 450 °C to 900 °C, respectively at residence time of 0-0.7 s. Thermal characteristics of the new technique are also described in this paper. This study clearly clarified that toluene was much easier to be removed than naphthalene. Soot was found as the final product of thermal treatment of the tar model and completely removed during catalytic treatment. Radical reactions generated by RF non-thermal effect improve the tar removal. The study showed that Y-zeolite has better catalytic activity compared to dolomite on toluene and naphthalene removal due to its acidic nature and large surface area, even at lower reaction temperature of about 550 °C.

A new effective RF tar thermocatalytic treatment process with low energy intensive has been proposed to remove tar from biomass gasification. Toluene and naphthalene as biomass tar model compounds were removed via both thermal and catalytic treatment over a wide temperature range from 850 °C to 1200 °C and 450 °C to 900 °C, respectively at residence time of 0-0.7 s. Thermal characteristics of the new technique are also described in this paper. This study clearly clarified that toluene was much easier to be removed than naphthalene. Soot was found as the final product of thermal treatment of the tar model and completely removed during catalytic treatment. Radical reactions generated by RF non-thermal effect improve the tar removal. The study showed that Y-zeolite has better catalytic activity compared to dolomite on toluene and naphthalene removal due to its acidic nature and large surface area, even at lower reaction temperature of about 550 °C.