Article

Cite This: Energy Fuels XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX pubs.acs.org/EF

Experimental Investigation on the Droplet Burning Behavior of

Diesel−Palm Biodiesel Blends
Jong Boon Ooi,*,† Jinng-Hui Yap,† Manh-Vu Tran,‡ and Jeffrey Chin Kong Leong†
†
Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Sungai Long, Bandar Sungai Long,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
‡
School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Diesel−palm biodiesel blend could be an attractive fuel for diesel vehicles owing to its better physicochemical
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properties compared to those of fossil diesel. This study comprehensively investigates the combustion behavior of diesel droplet
blended with palm biodiesel at 20% v/v, 40% v/v, and 60% v/v (i.e., B20, B40, and B60, respectively). Droplet combustion
experimental results show that the B60 and palm biodiesel droplets exhibit a more prominent blue flame and less sooty flame
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compared to diesel droplet. Compared to those of diesel droplet, the ignition delay and burn-rate constant for B60 droplet
increase by 27.0 and 56.3%, respectively, whereas, the burning duration of B60 droplet decreases significantly by 17.7%. Overall,
this study suggests that B60 could be an effective fuel for improving the combustion and emission characteristics of diesel
engines and has the potential to be utilized for other combustion-related applications.

1. INTRODUCTION averaging about 5950 litres per hectare, which is approximately

The vastly increasing worldwide demand for energy and 13 times the yield of soybean oil.7 The vast benefits of palm
progressive depletion of fossil fuels have motivated an intensive biodiesel and other biodiesel feedstock have driven production
research in developing a clean and sustainable fuel for diesel of biodiesel at both large scale and small scale.8 Malaysia has
engine.1 Palm biodiesel is one of the attractive biofuels for become the second largest palm oil producer and exporter
transportation because it meets the criteria of renewability, behind Indonesia. In 2016, oil palm plantations have surged to
environment friendliness, and economic feasibility. Unlike 5.74 million hectares of land usage, whereas palm oil mills
diesel, palm biodiesel is technically zero-sulfur (nontoxic) and extracted 17.32 million tonnes of crude palm oil.9
has a potential of being a sustainable fuel.2 Among the variety In recent years, however, the rapid increase in the
of biodiesel types, palm biodiesel is favored owing to its production of palm biodiesel in Indonesia and Malaysia has
remarkable physicochemical properties. The cetane number of raised concerns over major deforestation and surge in carbon
palm biodiesel is the greatest compared to that of soybean and footprint.10 This is because pristine rainforests sequester more
coconut biodiesel, as depicted in Table 1. The calorific value of carbon footprint per hectare than oil palms. As plantation
owners convert forests into oil plantations, the oil palm trees
Table 1. Properties of Palm, Soybean, Coconut, and absorb less carbon emission, ultimately leading to net positive
Rapeseed Biodiesel5 gain in carbon footprint in the long run.11 Nevertheless, the
massive carbon emission can be mitigated through fuel
palm soybean coconut rapeseed
properties biodiesel biodiesel biodiesel biodiesel blending approach, whereby palm biodiesel is blended with
density (kg/m3) 874.0 885 870.0 886.0
diesel. This approach limits the dependency on palm biodiesel
viscosity (mm2/s) 4.4 4.0 2.7 6.0
alone for use in diesel transportation. Moreover, the desired or
cetane number 67.5 51.0 65.8 59.0 optimum fuel properties for diesel engine applications can be
calorific value 39.68 39.89 38.21 37.20 achieved with the right blending composition between palm
(MJ/kg) biodiesel and diesel.
Numerous studies have been conducted to evaluate the
exhaust emission levels and engine performance of various
palm biodiesel is also significantly greater than that of coconut
palm biodiesel−diesel blends in a diesel engine. A
and rapeseed biodiesel. These remarkable attributes of palm
biodiesel could provide enhanced combustion for diesel comprehensive review of palm biodiesel usage in diesel engines
engines. Furthermore, the presence of oxygen in palm biodiesel by Noor et al.12 reported that palm biodiesel increases the
promotes complete combustion to yield lower smoke emission amount of brake-specific fuel consumption and NOx emissions
in diesel engines.3,4 while conversely reducing other toxic gases such as soot,
In terms of cost and production, palm biodiesel has a greater UHCs, and CO emissions. However, when diesel is blended
advantage compared to other biodiesel feedstock. From the with palm biodiesel at certain amount, these effects can be
three most commonly available feedstock, the costs of
producing a ton of biodiesel for palm oil, rapeseed, and Received: July 9, 2019
soybean are US $684, $996, and $751, respectively.6 On the Revised: September 23, 2019
other hand, palm oil has the highest yield of edible oil Published: September 30, 2019

© XXXX American Chemical Society A DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02259

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Energy & Fuels Article

Table 2. Pertinent Physicochemical Properties of Diesel and Palm Biodiesel

parameter test method diesel palm biodiesel
density@25 °C (kg/m3) ASTM D1298 848.8 867.0
boiling point (°C) ASTM D7169 258.0 >300.0
cetane number ASTM D613 47 51
viscosity@25 °C (mm2/s) ASTM D445 4.74 5.20
surface tension (mN/m) 36.85 44.91
calorific value (MJ/kg) ASTM D240 45.50 39.68
C/H/O/N (wt %)
C 86.63 75.9
H 14.1 12.2
O 0 11.9
N <1.0 0
fatty acid saturation/unsaturation ratio (wt/wt) 49.6/49.7

Table 3. Technical Specifications of the Fuel Property Testing Apparatus

apparatus model test parameter range accuracy resolution
density measurement AccuPyc ll 1340 series density ±0.03% ±0.03%
boiling point apparatus Melting Point M-560 boiling point up to 400 °C ±0.1 °C
cetane analyzer PT-OCA-100 cetane number 20−100 ±1
digital viscometer Thermocap Plus B200V20 viscosity 5−200 °C ±0.1 °C 0.1 °C
force tensiometer Sigma 702 surface tension 1−1000 mN/m 0.01 mN/m
bomb calorimeter 1341 Calorimeter calorific value 0.3%

lowered. For example, Gad et al.13 reported lower brake-
specific fuel consumption and lower NOx, UHCs, and CO
emissions from a single-cylinder four-stroke diesel engine for
B20 (20% palm biodiesel and 80% diesel) compared to that of
palm biodiesel. Similarly, Ali et al.14 found that the palm
biodiesel−diesel blends containing between 10 and 50% palm
biodiesel significantly lowers brake-specific fuel consumption
of a four-cylinder diesel engine owing to the higher calorific
value of the palm biodiesel−diesel blends. A recent review on
the usage of palm biodiesel−diesel blends for diesel engines by
Mirhashemi and Sadrnia15 also reported that lower NOx
emissions can be achieved by blending diesel with palm
biodiesel with proper blending proportions.
Recent studies also explore the effects of fuel injection
strategies on biodiesel blends for reducing diesel engine
emissions. Bhowmick et al.16 studied the variation in pilot
injection rate, total injection rate, pilot injection duration, and
main injection duration using Calophyllum inophyllum methyl
ester biodiesel blended with diesel on the NOx, UHCs, CO,
and smoke emissions in a common rail diesel engine. Similarly,
Plamondon and Seers17 conducted a parametric study on the
impact of coupling pilot and main injections on combustion
and emission characteristics in a light-duty common-rail diesel
engine fueled with diesel blend with 20% v/v waste cooking oil
biodiesel. Babu, Karvembu, and Anand18 also investigated the
effects of single- and split-injection strategy on the combustion,
performance, and emissions characteristics of a common rail
direct-injection-assisted diesel engine fueled with waste frying
oil biodiesel.
Although many studies have reported improvements in
emission characteristics with the use of palm biodiesel−diesel
blends and fuel injection strategies, a more comprehensive
analysis through droplet combustion study is utmost crucial for
understanding the evaporation and combustion processes
involved between the mixture of diesel and palm biodiesel.
Furthermore, the effects of blending between palm biodiesel
and diesel can be directly ascertained because the complex
B DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02259
processes involved in a diesel engine (e.g., different droplet
sizes and rapid air swirl) can be isolated by droplet combustion
experiment. Recent studies have adopted droplet combustion
approach to explore in detail the combustion behavior of
biodiesel blends. For example, Muelas et al.19 studied the
droplet combustion characteristics of conventional heating oil
blended with used cooking oil biodiesel under varying oxygen
concentration. Similarly, Chao et al.20 investigated the burning
droplets blended with biodiesel and alcohol using the free-
falling and suspended droplet methods. Therefore, the
objective of this work is to investigate the combustion
behavior of palm biodiesel−diesel blends at different blending
concentrations through droplet combustion study. The
outcome of this study will present the required technical
insights into the potential mass adoption of palm biodiesel−
diesel blend as a viable solution for improving combustion and
reducing emissions in diesel engine applications.
In the experiment, the droplet combustions of diesel, palm
biodiesel, and palm biodiesel−diesel blends at 20, 40, and 60%
(e.g., B20, B40, and B60), respectively, are investigated under
ambient pressure and temperature.21 A time-based evolution of
burning droplet is analyzed using a high-speed camera to
capture high-quality images of fuel droplet and to evaluate the
combustion parameters (i.e., ignition delay, burn rate, and
combustion duration) accurately.22 The flame color profiles of
diesel, palm biodiesel, B20, B40, and B60 are also examined
using a high-resolution DSLR camera to assess their
combustion behavior.
2. METHODOLOGY
2.1. Test Fuels. Palm biodiesel (i.e., palm methyl ester)
and ultralow sulfur diesel were used in this experimental study
without any modification. The refined palm biodiesel used was
provided by a Malaysian biodiesel company, ExcelVite Sdn.
Bhd., whereas a locally available commercial diesel was used as
the baseline fuel. Aside from the above-mentioned fuels, three
intermediate blends from B20 to B60 at interval of 20 vol %
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were prepared by blending diesel and palm biodiesel. Each of
the test fuels were stirred vigorously and bath-sonicated before
running the experiments. The pertinent properties of diesel
and palm biodiesel and the relevant specifications of fuel test
apparatus are summarized in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. It
can be remarked that palm biodiesel has higher cetane number
compared to diesel and the fuel-bound oxygen content in palm
biodiesel promotes a more complete combustion than diesel
since it is a hydrocarbon fuel (i.e., virtually zero oxygen
content). However, the viscosity, boiling point, and surface
tension values of palm biodiesel are higher than those of diesel
(Table 2).
2.2. Experimental Setup. Droplet combustion study is
central to understanding the combustion processes in various
combustion applications, including gas turbines, diesel engines,
furnaces, and powered propellants.23 Fundamental research
through droplet combustion experiment was adopted in this
study because it isolates complex combustion process involving
rapid air swirl and mixing, thereby allowing the combustion
performance of different test fuels to be determined.24,25
The test rig of droplet combustion experiment setup is
illustrated in Figure 1. The experimental setup and procedures
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of droplet combustion experiment.
carried out in this study are similar to the work of Ghamari and
Ratner,26 in which the fuel droplet combustion was conducted
in standard atmospheric condition (1 atm, 25 °C). The main
Figure 2. Droplet image conversion from (a) a shadowgraph image (grayscale) to (b) a binary image (black and white).
C DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02259
Article
components of the test rig are the combustion chamber, a
monochrome high-speed camera, and a high-resolution DSLR
camera. The width, depth, and height of the combustion
chamber are 300, 300, and 400 mm, respectively. The
combustion chamber has three identical view ports of 100
mm in diameter on each side for camera and backlight access.
An intersection wires of 45° angle spacing was formed with the
support of four poles mounted on each vertex of the square
base plate. A fuel droplet of approximately 2 mm in diameter
or 60 μL in volume was suspended on the intersection of wires
using a microsyringe. The droplet was positioned between the
high-speed camera and a 100 W halogen backlight to obtain
shadowgraph images. The fuel droplet was ignited by a
solenoid-actuated heater, in which the vertical distance
between the droplet and heater was positioned approximately
3 mm by an aluminum frame. The temperature of the heater
was maintained at around 400 °C by using the voltage
regulator, and the heating time was set to 400 ms. The
solenoid heater was set to retract horizontally right after
heating time ends to minimize heat transfer or any interaction
with the burning droplet. The macroscopic transient droplet
evolution process was recorded by a CMOS high-speed camera
with a sampling rate of 500 frames per second. The resolution
was set to approximately 352 by 640 pixels, which is large
enough to cover the whole droplet periphery. In contrast, the
DSLR camera was used to capture the flame progression at a
resolution of 3968 × 2976. The timing of all events was
controlled by a microcontroller board to synchronize the
ignition, solenoids retraction, and cameras.
2.3. Image Processing Method. A customized image-
processing code was developed using MATLAB software to
calculate the cross-sectional area of droplets captured from the
high-speed camera. The image-processing approach used in
this study is similar to the one carried out by Ooi et al.24
Briefly, shadowgraph images captured from the high-speed
camera were converted into binary images through a threshold
value to distinguish between the droplet and wires (white
region) and the background (black region), as depicted in
Figure 2. Then, the cross-sectional area of droplet and wires
was determined by calculating the number of pixels within the
white region. Next, the droplet area was obtained by
subtracting the cross-sectional area of wires alone (i.e., before
suspending the droplet on the wires) from the cross-sectional
area of droplet and wires. The diameter of the droplet was
estimated by using the area of the circle. It should be noted
that at certain time interval, the droplet shape is distorted
during the combustion. However, by using this method, the
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Energy & Fuels
cross-sectional area and diameter of irregular-shaped droplet
can be calculated with reasonable accuracy.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Temporal Evolution of Burning Droplet. The
burning behavior of all of the test fuels (i.e., diesel, B20, B40,
B60, and palm biodiesel) analyzed through normalized droplet
diameter square (D/D0)2 versus time is shown in Figure 3. The
Figure 3. Temporal evolution of normalized droplet diameter square
(D/D0)2 for the B60 droplet.
temporal evolution of burning droplet for all of the test fuels
was found to be similar. Their temporal evolution profiles can
be generalized based on the B60 droplet, as illustrated in
Figure 4. The generic burning evolution experienced by all of
Figure 4. Temporal evolution of normalized droplet diameter square
(D/D0)2 for diesel, B20, B40, B60, and palm biodiesel.
Figure 5. Flame appearance of the diesel, B20, B40, B60, and palm biodiesel droplets. Flame surrounding the droplet becomes more bluish with
increased nonluminous zone (indicated by the white arrows) for higher palm biodiesel content. The droplets of diesel and B20 are shed/covered by
the luminous/sooty flame (marked by the red circles).
D DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02259
Article
the test fuel droplets is explained as follows. During preheating,
all fuel droplets expanded gradually due to thermal expansion
and cavitation.24 All fuel droplets eventually ignite at their
respective time intervals after a period of preheating. The start
of ignition of a droplet was traced from the first appearance of
the flame. Upon ignition, burning occurred violently causing
the droplet to cavitate, swell, and distort (see Figure 3). This
nongradual burning behavior, which was evident from the
fluctuation of (D/D0)2 profile, was identified as the unsteady
burning zone. The fluctuation could be attributed to a series of
processes involved: cavitation/voids formation within the
droplet, continuous swelling (i.e., cavitation growth), and
sudden burst/explosion on the surface of droplet. Con-
sequently, all fuel droplets experienced a gradual decrease in
(D/D0)2 at a certain duration and were regarded as the quasi-
linear burning zone (see Figure 3). Secondary droplet
formation, which involves splitting of primary droplet into
two smaller droplets, was observed for all fuel droplets during
the quasi-linear burning zone. This is followed by a steady
burning zone, in which there was no cavitation or swelling (i.e.,
no fluctuation in droplet size) during combustion. Near the
end of droplet burning, the droplet diminishes first before the
flame extinct forming visible smoke, as shown in Figure 3. It is
worth pointing out from Figure 4 that the fluctuations of (D/
D0)2 for diesel were found to be much higher compared to
other test fuels. The observed trend could be explained by the
high-volatility component fuels found in diesel that tend to
evaporate rapidly, consequently speeding up cavitation,
swelling, and droplet explosion.25
3.2. Flame Color. Variation in flame color of a burning
droplet can be associated with the completeness of combustion
and the rate of combustion, which depends on the oxygen
supply and the extent of fuel−oxygen premixing.21 Figure 5
presents the flame of the diesel, B20, B40, B60, and palm
biodiesel droplets. A more luminous flame near the droplet was
observed for diesel and B20 denoting more incandescent soot
particles. In contrast, a less luminous and apparent bluish flame
enveloping the droplet (see Figure 5) was observed for the
B40, B60, and palm biodiesel droplets. A much less luminous
flame becomes apparent when palm biodiesel content
increases. The observed trend can be attributed to the
presence of oxygenated content found in palm biodiesel that
promotes a more complete combustion, thereby producing less
soot.27 With increasing oxygen supply and less soot,
exothermic reaction in the flame creates enough energy to
ionize gas molecules, thus leading to a bluish flame appearance.
In addition, Botero et al.28 highlighted that the less sooty and
bluish flame in biodiesel droplet is mainly due to the absence
of aromatic hydrocarbons and presence of oxygenated
functional groups.
Energy Fuels XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Energy & Fuels
3.3. Ignition Delay. In this study, ignition delay of a
droplet was obtained by measuring the period between the
start of heating (i.e., when the heater is exactly below the
droplet) and the start of ignition (i.e., the first appearance of
flame, as indicated in Figure 3). The ignition delay period is
mainly affected by the physical and chemical delays. The
physical delay involves the time taken for evaporation of fuel,
molecular diffusion, and fuel−air mixing process, whereas the
chemical delay is attributed to the precombustion reactions
between the fuel and air.29 Figure 6 shows the effect of adding
Figure 6. Ignition delay of diesel, B20, B40, B60, and palm biodiesel
droplets. Each data point in the bar chart represents an average of up
to five repetitions, and the error bars show the corresponding
standard deviation.
palm biodiesel on the ignition delay of diesel droplets.
Comparing the ignition delay period between two pure fuel
droplets, the ignition delay of palm biodiesel was much longer
than that of diesel by 51.4%. However, this result is
counterintuitive to the cetane number of diesel and palm
biodiesel (see Table 2) because it is expected that the higher
cetane number of palm biodiesel compared to that of diesel
would result in shorter ignition delay period. It should be
noted that the correlation between cetane number and ignition
delay is not valid for droplet combustion experiment because
the cetane number magnitude is determined using a varying
compression−ignition engine based on the ASTM D613 test
method.30
On the other hand, the ignition delay period of diesel
droplet was observed to increase significantly when palm
biodiesel content in diesel is increased, as depicted in Figure 6.
The ignition delay periods of B20, B40, and B60 droplets were
greater than those of diesel droplet by 5.41, 16.22, and 27.03%,
respectively. This increasing trend can be attributed to the
increasing boiling point and surface tension of diesel droplet
with greater palm biodiesel content (see Table 2), con-
sequently retarding the evaporation and fuel−air mixing
processes for ignition of droplet. The longer ignition delay of
B20, B40, and B60 droplets compared to that of diesel droplet
causes more portion of fuel to be burned in premixed burning,
thereby resulting in a more complete combustion and higher
combustion temperature.31 This would consequently contrib-
ute to lower soot, UHCs, and CO emissions but higher NOx
emissions. However, it is worth mentioning that the increase in
E DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02259
Article
ignition delay from B20 to B60 is gradual and consistent
(increase by 10.8%).
3.4. Burn Rate. Burn rate of a fuel droplet is a measure of
how fast the fuel burns, and it is mainly affected by continuous
evaporation and combustion process. The burn rate of a
burning droplet can be determined by the measurement of the
temporal variation of the droplet diameter evaporating under
the droplet combustion experimental condition.26,29 The D-
square law equation32 was adopted in this study to calculate
the burn-rate constant of all of the test fuels that are within the
quasi-linear burning zone (see Figure 3). The D-square law
equation is given as
D2 = D0 2 − kt (1)
2
where k is the burn-rate constant (mm /s), D0 is the initial
droplet diameter (mm), D is the droplet diameter (mm), and t
is the combustion time (s). The assumptions for using the D-
square law equation are: (1) the fuel droplet is spherical, (2)
the droplet diameter squared decreases linearly with time, (3)
heat convection between the droplet and air is minimal, and
(4) the atmospheric condition of the droplet combustion
experiment is unchanged.
Comparison of the burn-rate constant for diesel, palm
biodiesel, and diesel−biodiesel blends at different concen-
trations of palm biodiesel is shown in Figure 7. It was observed
Figure 7. Comparison of the burn-rate constant of diesel, B20, B40,
B60, and palm biodiesel droplets. Each data point in the bar chart
represents an average of up to five repetitions, and the error bars show
the corresponding standard deviation.
that the palm biodiesel droplet achieved the greatest burn-rate
constant of 4.551 mm2/s, while the burn-rate constant of the
diesel droplet is found to be the lowest (2.14 mm2/s). The
percentage of increase in the burn rate of palm biodiesel
compared to that of diesel is 113.0%. This is possibly due to
the high oxygen content in palm biodiesel droplet that
promotes a more complete and rapid combustion.33 It is
expected that the diesel droplet burns at a much lower burn-
rate magnitude because of the absence of oxygen in diesel since
diesel is a hydrocarbon fuel. Although the evaporation and
combustion of palm biodiesel droplet may be hindered by its
higher boiling point and surface tension compared to those of
diesel (see Table 2), it is deduced that more heat energy
provided by a more complete combustion of palm biodiesel
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droplet is enough to overcome these effects, consequently
resulting in higher burn rate for the palm biodiesel droplet.
Comparing the burn rate of diesel−palm biodiesel blend
droplets, an increasing trend in burn-rate constant was
observed for fuel blend with higher palm biodiesel content,
as illustrated in Figure 7. The percentage improvements in the
burn-rate constant for B20, B40, and B60 droplets in
comparison to diesel droplet were found to be 2.1, 4.2, and
56.3%, respectively. The B60 droplet achieved the greatest
burn rate among the diesel−palm biodiesel blend droplets. The
increasing burn rate with the addition of palm biodiesel in the
fuel blends can be attributed to the presence of oxygen in palm
biodiesel.33 In contrast, the small improvement in the burn rate
for the B20 and B40 droplets compared to that of diesel
droplet is most likely attributed to the limited oxygen supplied
by palm biodiesel.
The remarkably high burn rate found for B60 and palm
biodiesel is favorable for improving the thermal efficiency and
fuel consumption of a diesel engine. The high burn rate of B60
or palm biodiesel could speed up the combustion process and
significantly reduce heat losses through the engine cylinder
wall, thereby improving the engine’s thermal efficiency.25
Furthermore, the high burn rate of B60 and palm biodiesel also
promotes a more complete combustion, thus resulting in less
CO, UHCs, and soot emissions.33
3.5. Burning Duration. Burning duration is an important
parameter in the combustion process and is mainly controlled
by the ignition delay and burning rate of a fuel droplet.34 In
this study, burning duration of a droplet was defined as the
period between the start of ignition and the end of
combustion. Figure 8 shows the burning duration of diesel,
Figure 8. Comparison of the burning duration of diesel, B20, B40,
B60, and palm biodiesel droplets. Each data point in the bar chart
represents an average of up to five repetitions, and the error bars show
the corresponding standard deviation.
B20, B40, B60, and palm biodiesel droplets. The burning
duration of B60 and palm biodiesel droplets was found to be
reduced by 17.7 and 44.0%, respectively, compared to that of
the diesel droplet. The huge reduction in burning duration for
B60 and palm biodiesel droplet can be explained by the longer
ignition delay and higher burn rate than diesel droplet (see
Figures 6 and 7). Longer ignition delay results in larger portion
of the fuel to be burned in premixed combustion (i.e., rapid
F DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02259
Article
combustion), while higher burn rate denotes greater rate of
diffusion combustion (mixing-controlled combustion).21
On the other hand, the burning duration for both B20 and
B40 droplets was found to be slightly higher than that of diesel
droplet by 2.9%. The counterintuitive trend observed for B20
and B40 droplets is largely due to their relatively lower burn
rates (i.e., lower diffusion combustion rates) compared to that
of diesel droplet, as shown in Figure 7. Even though some
portion of the B20 and B40 droplets is burned in premixed
combustion owing to their greater ignition delay period than
that of diesel droplet (see Figure 6), this effect is not significant
to affect the burning duration. Therefore, diffusion combustion
is more dominant in affecting the burning duration of B20 and
B40 droplets. Besides, the continuous cavitation and swelling
and microexplosions intensity as evident from the occurrence
of fluctuation (see Figure 4) may also contribute to lower
burning duration for diesel droplet compared to that of B20
and B40 droplets.29
Shorter burning duration found for B60 and palm biodiesel
droplets is beneficial to diesel engine operation because it
reduces heat losses and late combustion in the expansion
stroke. Consequently, incomplete combustion is reduced,
thereby producing less soot, UHCs, and CO emissions.25
Furthermore, shorter burning duration could result in more
fuel being burned near the top dead center to provide higher
in-cylinder pressure for achieving greater engine power/work
per cycle and higher thermal efficiency.21
4. CONCLUSIONS
Experimental investigations on the burning behavior of diesel,
B20, B40, B60, and palm biodiesel droplets were performed
using droplet combustion experiment. Postprocessing of
droplet and flame images for all of the test fuels captured
using a high-speed camera revealed the evolution of droplet
diameter and other pertinent parameters, including flame
color, ignition delay, burn-rate constant, and burning duration.
The conclusions of this study are summarized as follows:
• Preheating, unsteady burning zone, quasi-linear burning
zone, and steady burning zone were identified as the
distinctive droplet burning stages for diesel, B20, B40,
B60, and palm biodiesel.
• Transition from a luminous and sooty flame to a less
luminous and bluish flame was observed when the
composition of palm biodiesel in diesel is increased. Less
luminous and bluish flame was apparent for B60 and
palm biodiesel droplet, which denotes a more complete
combustion and low soot formation.
• Prolonged ignition delay period was associated with the
higher content of palm biodiesel in diesel owing to its
relatively higher boiling point and higher surface tension.
A gradual increase in ignition delay period was observed
from B20 to B60 droplets.
• Improvement in the burn rate compared to that of the
diesel droplet was found to be very significant for B60
and palm biodiesel droplets, achieving 56.3 and 113.0%,
respectively.
• The burning durations of diesel, B20, B40, B60, and
palm biodiesel droplets were mainly affected by the burn
rate of diffusion combustion rather than the premixed
combustion. Significant reduction in burning duration
was achieved for B60 and palm biodiesel droplets
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compared to that of the diesel droplet by 17.7 and
44.0%, respectively.
The present study suggests that the overall enhanced droplet
combustion patterns of B60 could improve the combustion
and emission characteristics of diesel engine applications. It is
anticipated that the present research will pave way for future
investigations into the potential of diesel−palm biodiesel
blends as alternative fuels over fossil diesel for various
combustion-related applications such as gas turbine, furnace,
and internal combustion engines.
■
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail: ooijb@utar.edu.my, jongboonooi@gmail.com.
ORCID
Jong Boon Ooi: 0000-0001-5152-4873
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
■
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the financial support and facilities
provided by Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and
Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, which made this
research project possible. The authors also acknowledge
ExcelVite Sdn. Bhd. for supplying high-quality palm biodiesel
(EVFuels) for this project.
■
NOMENCLATURE
B20 = diesel blended with 20 vol % palm biodiesel
B40 = diesel blended with 40 vol % palm biodiesel
B60 = diesel blended with 60 vol % palm biodiesel
CO = carbon monoxide
NOx = nitrogen oxides
UHCs = unburned hydrocarbons
■
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H DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02259
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