The effect of the chamber pressure on combustion of a twin-fluid-atomized spray of straight vegetable oil (VO) in a swirl stabilized combustion system is experimentally studied. A system with high pressure capabilities was developed, and flame and emissions characteristics of VO are investigated at elevated pressures up to about 5 bars, different heat release rates (HRRs), and atomizing air to liquid ratios (ALR) by mass. An image analysis technique was developed to infer flame and soot characteristics from visual images acquired by a digital camera. An increase in the ALR resulted in improved combustion of VO, characterized by blue flames, lower CO and NOx emissions, and minimal soot formation. For a given fuel flow rate, an increase in the chamber pressure resulted in smaller volume flames with lower CO levels but higher NOx emissions. Compared to diesel, as pressure increased, straight VO flames produced lower NOx and more voluminous flames characterized by distributed combustion with less soot formation. Overall, straight VO could be atomized and combusted at elevated pressures using the twin-fluid atomizer of the present study, and the resulting VO flames exhibited less sensitivity to chamber pressure variations.
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November 2018
Research-Article
Twin-Fluid Atomized Spray Combustion of Straight Vegetable Oil at Elevated Pressures
Yonas Niguse,
Yonas Niguse
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
Lafayette, LA 70503
e-mail: ygn1575@louisiana.edu
University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
Lafayette, LA 70503
e-mail: ygn1575@louisiana.edu
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Ajay K. Agrawal
Ajay K. Agrawal
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
e-mail: AAgrawal@eng.ua.edu
The University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
e-mail: AAgrawal@eng.ua.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Yonas Niguse
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
Lafayette, LA 70503
e-mail: ygn1575@louisiana.edu
University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
Lafayette, LA 70503
e-mail: ygn1575@louisiana.edu
Ajay K. Agrawal
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
e-mail: AAgrawal@eng.ua.edu
The University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
e-mail: AAgrawal@eng.ua.edu
1Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Combustion and Fuels Committee of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. Manuscript received April 27, 2018; final manuscript received May 5, 2018; published online July 9, 2018. Editor: David Wisler.
J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. Nov 2018, 140(11): 111504 (9 pages)
Published Online: July 9, 2018
Article history
Received:
April 27, 2018
Revised:
May 5, 2018
Citation
Niguse, Y., and Agrawal, A. K. (July 9, 2018). "Twin-Fluid Atomized Spray Combustion of Straight Vegetable Oil at Elevated Pressures." ASME. J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. November 2018; 140(11): 111504. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4040286
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