Rapid Characterization of Radiation and Pollutant Emissions of Biodiesel and Hydrocarbon Liquid Fuels

As a result of decreasing petroleum supplies, new fuel sources, such as transesterified biofeedstock based oils and their blends with petroleum diesel fuels, have emerged with potential to partially replace conventional diesel and gasoline fuels. Although these fuels have shown some promising results in engine studies, their basic combustion properties have not been well documented. Also, research is underway to develop new fuels from other sources or by altering their molecular structure to be fungible with conventional fuels. Thus, there is a need for tests to characterize the combustion and emission properties of these new liquids, which are available only in small quantities at the research and development stage. This paper deals with a technique that meets those goals. The fuel was prevaporized and mixed with air and burnt in a tubular burner (9.5 mm inner diameter) at atmospheric pressure under laminar conditions. A pilot methane/air flame was used as the ignition source. The test conditions were so chosen that the measured properties could be attributed primarily to the fuel chemical structure. Several liquid fuels were tested, including commercially available petroleum-based No. 2 diesel fuel, canola methyl ester (CME B100) biodiesel, kerosene, methanol, toluene, and selected alkanes. The radiative heat flux from the flames was measured using a wide-angle pyrheliometer; the emissions from the flames were sampled to measure the concentration of CO, $CO2$⁠, and NO. The measured radiant heat fraction values and the emission indices of NO and CO of both petroleum-derived and biofuels agreed well with those found in literature; thus, the feasibility of this method to rapidly characterize the combustion and emission properties of new liquids, such as biofuels, is demonstrated.