Publication: Enhancing fuel efficiency: investigating the impact of transmembrane emulsifier (TME) on biofuel emulsification and spray characteristics
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Date
2024-07-09
Authors
Harish Kumar a/l Senthil Kumeren
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Abstract
The issue of price hike on fossil fuel and the global directives of mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have led to a rise in demand for biofuel. Unlike fossil fuels, which are finite resources, biofuels are created from feedstocks that are continually replenished by nature. Biofuel has a high oxygen content and burning it in the engine helps improve emissions indirectly. However, the straight application of pure biofuel to the engine is restricted since it will harm the engine by causing carbon deposits, injector clogging, and incomplete combustion. To address these issues, this project focuses on the trans-membrane emulsification (TME) of biofuels with oil and water to achieve performance comparable to baseline diesel fuel. TME is chosen because it allows precise control over droplet size and uniformity, leading to more consistent and stable emulsions. Additionally, this method is generally more energy-efficient compared to conventional emulsification techniques. Previous studies have utilized egg yolk oil (EYO) and surfactants to produce biofuel emulsions. In contrast, this project employs TME using different pressure settings for refined palm oil (RPO) and water to determine the optimal emulsification conditions. The experiments conducted in this study involved varying the transmembrane pressure to identify the best emulsification parameters. It was found that a transmembrane pressure of 0.1 bar produced an emulsion with a water content of 2-5%, which is ideal for enhancing combustion efficiency and promoting micro-explosion phenomena. The stability period of EB is around 15-30 minutes. Since the EB will be instantaneously sprayed and burnt instead of being pre-prepared and stored in a storage tank, it does not require a long stability period. Next, this project aimed to investigate the macroscopic spray parameters, such as spray penetration length of the best emulsion identified in the initial experiments. The results show that EB produced via TME has longer penetration length compared to baseline diesel due to higher density. Improved penetration lengths suggest that emulsified biofuels can be more efficiently utilized in combustion process.