Synthesis, droplet combustion, and sooting characteristics of biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oils

T. X. Li; D. L. Zhu; N. K. Akafuah; K. Saito; Chung King Law

doi:10.1016/j.proci.2010.07.044

Synthesis, droplet combustion, and sooting characteristics of biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oils

T. X. Li, D. L. Zhu, N. K. Akafuah, K. Saito, Chung King Law

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55 Scopus citations

Abstract

In light of the potential of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME, i.e. biodiesel) as a renewable energy source, an innovative acid catalyzed process was developed for the synthesis of biodiesel from waste vegetable oils. The synthesized biodiesels were analytically characterized for their major components, molar fraction and molecular weight of each component, the average molecular weight, and the heat of combustion. Their droplet combustion characteristics in terms of the burning rate, flame size, and sooting tendency were subsequently determined in a high-temperature, freely-falling droplet apparatus. Results show that the biodiesel droplet has higher burning rate, and that biodiesel in general has a lower propensity to soot because its molecular oxygen content promotes the oxidation of the soot precursors.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2039-2046
Number of pages	8
Journal	Proceedings of the Combustion Institute
Volume	33
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2010.07.044
State	Published - 2011

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

General Chemical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Keywords

Biodiesel
Droplet combustion
Soot formation
Surrogate mixtures

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10.1016/j.proci.2010.07.044

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title = "Synthesis, droplet combustion, and sooting characteristics of biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oils",

abstract = "In light of the potential of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME, i.e. biodiesel) as a renewable energy source, an innovative acid catalyzed process was developed for the synthesis of biodiesel from waste vegetable oils. The synthesized biodiesels were analytically characterized for their major components, molar fraction and molecular weight of each component, the average molecular weight, and the heat of combustion. Their droplet combustion characteristics in terms of the burning rate, flame size, and sooting tendency were subsequently determined in a high-temperature, freely-falling droplet apparatus. Results show that the biodiesel droplet has higher burning rate, and that biodiesel in general has a lower propensity to soot because its molecular oxygen content promotes the oxidation of the soot precursors.",

keywords = "Biodiesel, Droplet combustion, Soot formation, Surrogate mixtures",

author = "Li, {T. X.} and Zhu, {D. L.} and Akafuah, {N. K.} and K. Saito and Law, {Chung King}",

note = "Funding Information: The work conducted at the University of Kentucky was supported by the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. through Kentucky New Energy Venture (KNEV) program, while that at Princeton University was jointly supported by the Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) program co-sponsored by BP Corp. and Princeton University, and by the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001198.",

year = "2011",

doi = "10.1016/j.proci.2010.07.044",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "33",

pages = "2039--2046",

journal = "Proceedings of the Combustion Institute",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Synthesis, droplet combustion, and sooting characteristics of biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oils

AU - Li, T. X.

AU - Zhu, D. L.

AU - Akafuah, N. K.

AU - Saito, K.

AU - Law, Chung King

N1 - Funding Information: The work conducted at the University of Kentucky was supported by the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. through Kentucky New Energy Venture (KNEV) program, while that at Princeton University was jointly supported by the Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) program co-sponsored by BP Corp. and Princeton University, and by the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001198.

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - In light of the potential of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME, i.e. biodiesel) as a renewable energy source, an innovative acid catalyzed process was developed for the synthesis of biodiesel from waste vegetable oils. The synthesized biodiesels were analytically characterized for their major components, molar fraction and molecular weight of each component, the average molecular weight, and the heat of combustion. Their droplet combustion characteristics in terms of the burning rate, flame size, and sooting tendency were subsequently determined in a high-temperature, freely-falling droplet apparatus. Results show that the biodiesel droplet has higher burning rate, and that biodiesel in general has a lower propensity to soot because its molecular oxygen content promotes the oxidation of the soot precursors.

AB - In light of the potential of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME, i.e. biodiesel) as a renewable energy source, an innovative acid catalyzed process was developed for the synthesis of biodiesel from waste vegetable oils. The synthesized biodiesels were analytically characterized for their major components, molar fraction and molecular weight of each component, the average molecular weight, and the heat of combustion. Their droplet combustion characteristics in terms of the burning rate, flame size, and sooting tendency were subsequently determined in a high-temperature, freely-falling droplet apparatus. Results show that the biodiesel droplet has higher burning rate, and that biodiesel in general has a lower propensity to soot because its molecular oxygen content promotes the oxidation of the soot precursors.

KW - Biodiesel

KW - Droplet combustion

KW - Soot formation

KW - Surrogate mixtures

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JF - Proceedings of the Combustion Institute

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Synthesis, droplet combustion, and sooting characteristics of biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oils

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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