Fuel Processing Technology 166 (2017) 77–85

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Fuel Processing Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuproc

Research article

Experimental study of foamed emulsion combustion: Influence of solid

microparticles, glycerol and surfactant
Boris Kichatov ⁎, Alexey Korshunov, Alexey Kiverin, Eduard Son
Joint Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences, 125412 Moscow, Russia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The use of water as a part of hydrocarbon fuel represents one of the perspective directions in elaborating new
Received 5 April 2017 types of combustible systems. This paper considers issues of foamed emulsion combustion on the basis of exper-
Received in revised form 27 May 2017 imental research. Combustible foamed emulsion is a mixture of oxygen bubbles and heptane drops dispersed in a
Accepted 29 May 2017
water solution of stabilizer. Such foamed emulsions possess a set of unique properties and represent a vivid ex-
Available online 2 June 2017
ample of multiphase combustible system which could contain a significant amount of water. Thus a foam con-
Keywords:
taining 83 wt% of water is still combustible. Here we consider issues of foamed emulsion stability and
Foamed emulsion combustion depending on the influence of magnesium oxide particles, stabilizer and glycerol concentrations.
Water-saturated fuel In this paper for the first time we are presenting that by addition of magnesium oxide particles the total burning
Glycerol rate of the foam can be changed for more than an order of magnitude. The dependence of total burning rate of the
Stabilizer foam on the stabilizer concentration is not monotonic with a maximum at certain stabilizer content. The use of
Solid microparticles glycerol favors the shrinkage of the foamed emulsion and as a result the flame quenching.
Foam combustion © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Nowadays the issues related with elaboration of new types of hydro-
carbon-based fuels containing water gain increasing interest among
researchers [1–18]. One of the representatives of such fuels is the emul-
sion representing a blend of insoluble water and oil. As a rule one distin-
guish water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions though there are more
complex systems, e.g. three-phase emulsion [19,20]. The interest to-
wards such systems is defined by the issues of NOx, CO and soot emis-
sion reduce in the process of hydrocarbon fuels combustion [6,21–23].
Thus the reduction in NOx emission can be achieved due to the decrease
in the flame temperature. Possibility of soot particles formation in many
ways depends on the structure of drops in the emulsion [24].
At certain conditions the process of emulsion drops combustion is
accompanied by a rather useful from practical point of view phenome-
non of microexplosion [15,25–30]. Microexplosion is a process of explo-
sive boiling of the emulsion. Enhancement of mixing of fuel and air by
means of microexplosion could improve the combustion efficiency.
The probability of microexplosion and its strength depend on a set of
factors such as oil boiling temperature [15], water droplets size in the
emulsion drops [24], initial diameter of emulsion drops [31], water
volumetric content in the emulsion [31]. Thus if the mean water particle
diameter is smaller than a certain value then the emulsion drop
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: b9682563@yandex.ru (B. Kichatov).
demonstrate a weak disruptive activity [24]. Such theoretical and exper-
imental results evidence that the emulsion structure influence signifi-
cantly on the mechanism of its combustion. According to this one can
conclude that it is possible to change significantly the features of emul-
sion combustibility via regulating its structural characteristics. This
paper considers the combustion of emulsion not in the form of drops
in the oxidizer environment but in the form of foamed emulsion. Due
to such significant change in the emulsion structure one could obtain
new non-trivial properties of fuel.
Combustible foamed emulsion is a foam consisting of oxygen bub-
bles dispersed in the emulsion. In turn the emulsion represents a
water solution of stabilizer with oil drops suspended in it. For the first
time the foamed emulsion combustion was considered in [32]. One of
the principle point is that the foamed emulsion decays in the process
of flame propagation. Foam decay gives formation to the water drops,
fuel drops and/or emulsion drops. Formed fuel drops as well as emul-
sion drops are combusting in the oxygen environment. Due to this fact
the mechanism of foam decay determines both the combustibility of
the foam and the burning rate of the foam. Due to its structure the com-
bustible foamed emulsions obtain a set of unique properties. Thus for
example the foams containing up to 83 wt% of water are still combusti-
ble. Particularly this property of foamed emulsion reveals a new oppor-
tunity of direct use of oil/water blends with a large content of water as
fuels. Such a type of fuel can be utilized in the micro power devices
which elaboration as usual is related with the issues of miniature sys-
tems for fuel spraying. When utilizing a foamed emulsion as a fuel one

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2017.05.033
0378-3820/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
78 B. Kichatov et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 166 (2017) 77–85
should not create a system of fuel dispersing since in the process of its
combustion the foam is decaying by itself into the fuel and water drops.
When utilizing the foamed emulsion as a combustible system it
should be taken into account that the foam is unstable by its nature
and decays with time. Due to this it is necessary to utilize the foam as
a fuel directly after its preparation. Optimum application of such a fuel
is the power devices in which the fuel should be burned in a permanent
regime. Herewith the generator realizing a permanent process of foam
synthesis could be directly connected with burner. To elaborate such a
type of device an important issue arises related with adjust of mass
flows, foam generation rate and foam burning rate.
This paper pays the main attention to the analysis of methods for
controlling the flame speed of the foamed emulsion. Here we present
experimental results on the influences of magnesium oxide particles,
stabilizer concentration and glycerol on both total burning rate and sta-
bility of the foam.
2. Experimental set-up
2.1. Method for preparation of foamed emulsion
The process of foamed emulsion preparation consists of two main
stages (Fig. 1). In the first stage the emulsion is prepared. In the second
stage the obtained emulsion is foamed by chemical method.
We used the following components to prepare the foamed emul-
sion: distilled water, heptane and stabilizer. Two types of surfactants
were used to stabilize the foam: commercial detergent and sodium
dodecylsulfate (SDS). Commercial detergent is a surfactant of mixed
type consisting of anionic and nonionic surfactants. SDS is a surfactant
of anionic type. To prepare the solution the SDS powder was mixed
with distilled water. After this the solution was aged during 24 h. The
emulsion was prepared by stirring oil and surfactant solution in the ves-
sel of 300 mL with the use of two-paddle teflon stirrer during 10 min
(stirring intensity, 200 rpm). The size of heptane drops was controlled
using microphotographs (Fig. 2a). It was varying in the range from 5
to 80 μm. In set of cases we also added solid microparticles to the emul-
sion. We used magnesium oxide powder containing particles of charac-
teristic sizes in the range from 100 nm to 2 μm.
Fig. 1. Method for preparation of foamed emulsion.
In the second stage of foamed emulsion preparation the emulsion
was foamed by chemical method. At this the emulsion was mixed
with hydrogen peroxide directly inside the tube where subsequently
the combustion process was initiated. In the process of hydrogen perox-
ide decomposition the oxygen was released 2H2O2 = 2H2O2 + O2 ↑. We
used also the ammoniac solution of copper sulfate as a catalyst for the
reaction of hydrogen peroxide decomposition. The foam grew during
several seconds. Immediately after the foam preparation the character-
istic size of oxygen bubbles was in the range from 50 to 130 μm. A typ-
ical microphotograph of foamed emulsion is presented in Fig. 2b. To
measure surface and interfacial tensions we used a duNouy ring tensi-
ometer (Kruss K20, Germany). The error of tension measurements was
0.1 mN/m. The measurements results are presented in Table 1. Foam ex-
pansion ratio was determined as the ratio of foam volume to the volume
of liquid phase comprised in the foam. Foamed emulsion stability was
estimated on the base of foam shrinkage rate calculated using the data
on “foam height fraction”. In turn the parameter “foam height fraction”
was determined as a ratio of foam column height at certain time instant
to the initial foam column height. Below when discussing separate ex-
periments the concrete compositions used in the combustible foamed
emulsions preparation are presented in the figures captions.
2.2. Flame speed measurements
The process of flame propagation was observed in the semi-opened
tube in which the foamed emulsion was previously prepared. The tube
was set-up vertically with top open end. We used two tubes of 27 and
20 mm diameters and correspondingly of 245 and 226 mm lengths.
Foam ignition was performed by a pilot flame near the open end of
the tube at time instant when a maximal foam expansion ratio was
achieved. The foam ignition arose after a ~2 ms delay. Note that the ig-
nition delay depends on the heat source power and foam composition.
The flame propagated from top to bottom. The high speed color camera
RedLake Motion Pro × 3 (1000 fps) and the high speed monochrome
сamera Phantom V2012 (10,000 fps) were used to measure the flame
speed. All the photographs of the combustion zone structure represent-
ed in the paper were obtained using the high speed color camera
RedLake.
 B. Kichatov et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 166 (2017) 77–85 79

Fig. 2. Microphotographs of oil-in-water emulsion (a) and foamed emulsion (b).

Here we defined “flame speed” as a propagation velocity of the whole tube length. To determine the total burning rate the measure-
fastest point of the flame front. Exactly this leading point of the flame ments were repeated at least 5 times.
front surface represents a source from which the ignition impulse is
transferred to the neighboring regions and finally the combustion 3. Results and discussion
covers the whole volume of combustible foam [33]. The choice of such
a definition of “flame speed” is determined in many ways by the pro- This paper analyzes experimentally the combustion of foamed emul-
cesses evolving during the foam combustion. The velocity of flame prop- sion on the example of heptane-based foam. The experiments were car-
agation in the laboratory reference frame depends not only on the ried out with the change in following parameters: surfactant type, its
diffusion of active centers and heat transfer but also on the reacting mix- concentration, concentration of MgO particles and concentration of
ture motion resulting from gasdynamical processes [32]. In the process glycerol. All the parameters were varied independently.
of flame propagation a fragmentation of the flame front into the sepa-
rate burning kernels is possible. In such a case the “flame speed” is de- 3.1. Influence of solid particles
termined by the velocity of forward burning kernel propagation.
“Total burning rate” was determined as flame speed averaged over the This section is devoted to the analysis of magnesium oxide micro-
particles effect on the flame speed in the foamed emulsion. The interest
to study this issue is determined by the fact that at certain conditions an
Table 1 important role in foamed emulsion combustion belongs to the process
Surface and interfacial tension at 23 °C. of explosive boiling of liquid phase of the foam [32]. In view of this all
Surface tension (mN/m)
the factors defining liquid boiling would affect the flame speed. Solid
MgO particles could play a role of nucleation centers for vapor bubbles
Water + stabilizer
in the superheated liquid. Therefore one is able to vary flame speed by
Water + SDS (16.8 g/L) 29.6
Water + SDS (23.8 g/L) 29.5 means of MgO particles influence on the liquid boiling.
Water + SDS (32.9 g/L) 29.2 Fig. 1 illustrates the influence of magnesium oxide particles on the
Water + detergent 29.9 total burning rate of the foam. Degree of this influence is different and
Water + detergent + glycerol (2.1 vol%) 30.2 depends on the volumetric content of heptane in the emulsion. Thus
Water + detergent + glycerol (5.1 vol%) 30.3
in the emulsion containing 34.9 vol% of heptane the increase in magne-
Water + stabilizer / hydrocarbon interfacial tension sium oxide particles content from 0 to 7 g/L leads to increase in total
Water + detergent/heptane 3.4 burning rate from 2 to 22 m/s. It is one of the unique examples of
Water + detergent + glycerol (2.1 vol%) / heptane 3.3
Water + detergent + glycerol (5.1 vol%) / heptane 3.3
flame speed regulation in such a wide range.
Foamed emulsion contains a significant amount of water in the
Pure hydrocarbon surface tension range from 50 to 90 wt%. Due to this the concentration limits of combus-
Heptane 19.5
tion would be achieved as soon as the conditions of simultaneous
80 B. Kichatov et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 166 (2017) 77–85
evaporation of heptane and water drops in the convective-diffusion
zone of flame would be satisfied. According to this an important condi-
tion of foam combustibility can be formulated as following require-
ment: the diameter of fuel drops formed in the process of foam decay
should be much smaller than diameter of water drops. In such condi-
tions fuel and water drops would be evaporated in different spatially
separated zones. It should be expected that if the emulsion drops are
formed in the process of foam decay then the outer shell of the drop
will consist only of heptane when the central part will consist of
water. Oil drops are entering the interfacial surface of the emulsion
drop and form an outer shell if the entry coefficient E is positive [34]:
E ¼ σ w þ σ w=o þ σ o ;
where σO is surface tension of the oil phase, σw is surface tension of the
aqueous phase, σw/O is oil/water interfacial tension. With account of
data presented in Table 1, E = 13.8 mN/m. Since E N 0 heptane drops
penetrate onto the interfacial surface that can be clearly seen from Fig.
2b. When the emulsion drop is combusting first of all the heptane is
burning while the water residue evaporates in the region of combustion
products.
The fact that flame propagation velocity in the foam even in case
without MgO particles exceeds the value of laminar burning velocity
in the gaseous mixture is related to the mechanism of flame accelera-
tion. Note that the ignition of combustible foam was carried out near
the open end of the tube so the expansion of combustion products
had no influence on the flame acceleration.
Further process of flame acceleration can proceed in several stages.
In the initial stage of flame acceleration an important role belongs to
the Landau-Darrieus instability of the flame front [33]. A certain role
in flame acceleration could belong to the flame “turbulization” related
with reactive jets forming in the process of drops evaporation [34]. In
any case both mentioned mechanisms favor the increase in flame
speed. Together with the increase in flame speed there is a correspond-
ing increase in thermal flux transferred from the combustion zone to the
cold layers of the foam. At certain value of heat flux an explosive boiling
of liquid phase of the foam becomes possible. Ejection of reacting mix-
ture during explosive boiling of liquid component of the foam plays
the most important role in further flame acceleration in foamed emul-
sion. This process is clearly seen in Fig. 4. In the early stage of foamed
emulsion combustion one can observe increase in both flame speed
and flame surface. At time instant of 13 ms an explosive boiling of liquid
phase occurs accompanied with ejection of reacting mixture and igni-
tion of the adjacent layers of the foam. In this regime of foam combus-
tion the flame speed does not depend on thermal conductivity or
diffusion of active centers. Here the flame speed is mainly determined
by the velocity of reacting mixture ejection. Recently in [32] it was
shown that explosive boiling of liquid phase of the foam takes place if
the value of heat flux is so high that the growing vapor bubbles in the
superheated liquid have no time to absorb all the supplied thermal en-
ergy and part of this energy is spent to additional superheating of liquid
above saturation temperature. This condition is satisfied as soon as the
flame speed exceeds a certain critical value [32]. In the case considered
here this critical value is of the order of 3.1 m/s (Fig. 4).
Under certain conditions flame speed may exhibit oscillations
(Fig. 5a). The mechanism responsible for these oscillations in flame
speed is associated with incomplete evaporation of fuel drops in con-
vective-diffusion zone of the flame [32]. If oil drops are small enough
[35], they evaporate in convective-diffusion zone of the flame. Herewith
the temperature of the flame front achieves its maximum. In the process
of flame acceleration the following situation becomes possible when the
part of largest oil drops have no time to be evaporated in the convective-
diffusion zone of flame. Since the fuel concentration in the vapor flame
front decreases there is a corresponding decrease in the burning tem-
perature which in turn favors the decrease in the velocity of reacting
mixture ejection. In such a way the mechanism of flame acceleration
switches off and the process of flame deceleration begins. On the base
of these representations one is able to substantiate the oscillating
regime of foam combustion [32].
The addition of magnesium oxide particles to the foam one can ob-
serve a transition from the oscillating regime of flame propagation to
the accelerated one (Fig. 5d). Note that magnesium oxide particles are
chemically non-reactive.
It is known that in the superheated liquid the supercritical bubbles
are predominantly forming not in the bulk but on the heterogeneous
centers of nucleation [36,37]. In view of this magnesium oxide particles
play a role of such centers of nucleation. The increase in particles con-
centration in the foam leads to the certain increase in amount of vapor
bubbles that favors finer fragmentation of liquid phase of the foam in
the process of explosive boiling. This hypothesis can be substantiated
on the base of following estimate. Assume that emulsion contains
7 g/L of magnesium oxide particles of 1 μm size. Taking into account
the mass density of magnesium oxide 3.58 g/cm3 a characteristic dis-
tance between nucleation centers inside superheated liquid equals to
5 μm. Characteristic size of the heptane drops in the initial foam belongs
to the range from 5 to 80 μm. Therefore the presence of magnesium
oxide particles would promote additional fragmentation of the heptane
drops in the process of explosive boiling of liquid phase of the foam.
With increase in concentration of magnesium oxide particles, the
speed limit of flame propagation, corresponding to the beginning of in-
complete evaporation of fuel drops in the convective-diffusion zone, in-
creases also. In turn its growth entails a transition from oscillating
regime of flame propagation (Fig. 5a) to the accelerated one (Fig. 5d).
Due to the change in the regime of flame propagation the total burning
rate of the foam increases (Fig. 3).
In the process of flame acceleration the time during which fuel drops
are inside the convective-diffusion zone of flame reduces. This leads to
the decrease in fuel concentration inside the vapor flame front and
even to the flame quenching after achieving a certain concentration
limit. Note that the use of MgO particles does not lead to the combustion
inhibition in the process of flame acceleration. On the one hand this is
due to the fact that the presence of MgO particles intensifies process
of fuel drops fragmentation. On the other hand MgO particles lead to
evaporation enhancement of fuel drops [38,39].
It should be noted that at low content of oil in the initial emulsion
(2.1 vol%) the influence of microparticles on the total burning rate is
minimal. This is due to the fact that there is no explosive boiling of liquid
phase of the lean foam since the burning temperature decreases [32].
Fig. 3. Total burning rate of the foamed emulsion as a function of concentration of
magnesium oxide particles in the emulsion: (A) - volume content of heptane in the
emulsion is 34.9%; (B) - 17.7%; (C) - 2.1%. Foam is prepared from heptane, MgO, water
(3.3 mL), detergent (1.7 mL), hydrogen peroxide (3 mL), and ammonia solution of
copper sulfate (1.3 mL, 1.05 mol/L). Tube diameter is 27 mm.
 B. Kichatov et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 166 (2017) 77–85 81

Fig. 4. The structure of the combustion zone in the foamed emulsion with heptane volume content of 17.7% in the emulsion. Tube diameter is 27 mm. Foam is prepared from heptane
(1 mL), water (3.3 mL), detergent (1.7 mL), hydrogen peroxide (1.7 mL), and ammonia solution of copper sulfate (1.3 mL, 1.05 mol/L). Total burning rate, 8.3 m/s. Time is measured
from the moment of foam ignition. Instantaneous values of flame speed are presented for each time instant.

3.2. Influence of surfactant
Any foam is unstable by its nature due to the excess surface energy
[40]. Therefore the existence of the foam is not possible without the
use of surfactants. There is a number of mechanisms of foam decay:
gravitational foam drainage or emulsion creaming as well as coarsening
(or Ostwald ripening), i.e. gas or oil transfer between bubbles/drops due
to capillary pressure differences. Different types of stabilizers (anionic,
cationic, nonionic, solid particles) [40] are used to reduce the rate of
foam shrinkage. These stabilizers slow down the processes of ageing,
coalescence of bubbles and gravitational flowing of liquid phase. Addi-
tionally the concentration of stabilizer determines not only the stability
of foamed emulsion but the properties of its combustibility. This section
analyzes both issues.
Dependence of total burning rate of the foam on the SDS concentra-
tion in the emulsion is not monotonic and one can observe a maximum
(Fig. 6). Herewith the dependence of foam expansion ratio also passes
through the maximum (Fig. 6). Hence one is able to conclude that the
flame speed increases together with expansion ratio of the foam.
The fact that the flame speed in the foam exceeds significantly the
laminar burning velocity in the gaseous heptane-oxygen mixture evi-
dences the action of flame acceleration mechanism. One of the possible
flame acceleration mechanisms is related with explosive boiling of liq-
uid phase of the foam [32]. On the basis of this hypothesis one is able
to substantiate experimental results presented in Fig. 6. The increase
in expansion ratio of the foam denotes the decrease in water content
in the unit volume of the foam. Therefore the water content in the
unit volume of aerosol also decreases. This leads to the decrease in
heat losses from the flame front which are spent to the water drops
evaporation. Hence the temperature in the combustion zone increases
that in turn causes the increase in the intensity of reacting mixture ejec-
tion in the process of explosive boiling of liquid phase of the foam. Di-
rectly this is a reason determining the increase in total burning rate of
the foam with the foam expansion ratio.
At low concentration of SDS in the solution (at small foam expansion
ratio) one can observe flame quenching (Fig. 7). In the considered case
the flame quenches as soon as the flame speed increases up to the
certain critical level. This is due to the fact that at lowered values of
foam expansion ratio (at large water content in the unit volume of aero-
sol) heat losses from the combustion zone achieves their maximum.
Mainly this increase in heat losses determines the mechanism of flame
quenching.
The existence of maximum in the dependence of foam expansion
ratio on SDS concentration can be explained within the framework of
dynamical foam stability theory by Gibbs-Marangoni [40]. According
to this model a local thinning of the liquid films becomes possible due
to the random process. At low concentration of SDS in the solution a
negligible gradient of surface tension arises in the regions of liquid
films thinning. Due to this induced liquid flow in the film is negligibly
small and therefore the initial thickness of the film could not be
82 B. Kichatov et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 166 (2017) 77–85

Fig. 5. Plots of flame velocity vs. time for heptane volume content of 17.7% in the emulsion: (a) the content of magnesium oxide particles in the emulsion is 4.4 g/L, foam expansion ratio is
14.9; (b) 6.0 g/L, 14.6; (c) 8.8 g/L, 12.9; (d) 17.7 g/L, 12.2. Foam composition corresponds to case B in Fig. 3. Tube diameter is 27 mm.

restored. As a result the film bursts. At moderate concentration of stabi-
lizer larger gradient of surfactant concentration takes place in the re-
gions of film thinning. Correspondingly more significant gradient of
surface tension leads to larger liquid inflow to these regions and as a re-
sult to film restoring. At high concentrations of stabilizer the differential
tension relaxes too rapidly due to diffusion of surfactant from the liquid
volume to its surface. As a result there is almost no liquid inflow to the
regions of film thinning. Volume of unstable foam decreases rapidly that
determines smaller foam expansion ratio which can be obtained.
Therefore the stability of the foam (Fig. 8) determines its expansion
ratio (Fig. 6).
3.3. Influence of glycerol
Nowadays there is an increase in research interest to the possibility
of glycerol utilization as a component of fuel or as a substantive fuel [41,
42]. This is caused by the fact that the glycerol is a by-product of the bio-
diesel production process [43] and an important issue arises related

Fig. 6. Influence of surfactant (SDS) concentration on the total burning rate and expansion
ratio of the foam. Tube diameter is 27 mm. Foam is prepared from heptane (4 mL), water Fig. 7. Plots of the flame speed and distance traveled vs. time. Сombustible foam
(6.6 mL), hydrogen peroxide (6 mL), and ammonia solution of copper sulfate (2.6 mL, composition corresponds to Fig. 6, SDS solution (1 mL, 0.5 mol/L). Total burning rate,
1.05 mol/L). 4.1 m/s.
 B. Kichatov et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 166 (2017) 77–85
Fig. 8. Foamed emulsion height as a function of time. Foam is prepared from heptane
(4 mL), water (6.6 mL), hydrogen peroxide (6 mL), and ammonia solution of copper
sulfate (2.6 mL, 1.05 mol/L). (A) SDS solution (1 mL, 0.5 mol/L); (B) 3.4 mL; (C) 6.8 mL.
with its utilization. This subsection of the paper analyzes the opportuni-
ty to utilize glycerol as a component of combustible foamed emulsion.
Alcohol is an antifoam agent and therefore favors the shrinkage of
the foam [40]. Indeed the use of glycerol leads to the significant decrease
in foam expansion ratio (Fig. 9, compare A and B). However the effect of
glycerol on foam stability is ambiguous. In the absence of magnesium
oxide particles the use of glycerol leads to insignificant stabilization of
the foamed emulsion (Fig. 10, compare A and D). This is determined
by the increase in the viscosity of liquid phase of the foam containing
glycerol. As a result the process of liquid outflow from the foam deceler-
ates. At the same time in presence of MgO particles the use of glycerol
leads to significant destabilization of the foamed emulsion (Fig. 10, com-
pare C and E). Apparently this is related with the formation of particles
agglomerates [34].
Effect of glycerol on the flame speed appears due to the changing in
foam expansion ratio. Water content in the volume unit of the foam in-
creases with the decrease in foam expansion ratio. This leads to the de-
crease in flame speed or even to the flame quenching due to the
increase in heat losses from the combustion zone (Fig. 11).
Fig. 9. Dependence of foam expansion ratio on MgO particles content in the emulsion.
Foam was prepared from heptane (2 mL), water (3.3 mL), detergent (1.7 mL), hydrogen
peroxide (3 mL), and ammonia solution of copper sulfate (1.3 mL, 1.05 mol/L). Volume
fraction of the glycerol in the emulsion was (A) 4.2%; (B) 0%.
83
Fig. 10. Foamed emulsion height as a function of time. Foam is prepared from heptane
(2 mL), water (3.3 mL), detergent (1.7 mL), hydrogen peroxide (3 mL), and ammonia
solution of copper sulfate (1.3 mL, 1.05 mol/L). (А) Content of MgO particles in the
initial emulsion, 0 g/L, glycerol, 0 mL; (B) 4.4 g/L, 0 mL; (С) 9.8 g/L, 0 mL; (D) 0 g/L,
0.5 mL; (E) 8.5 g/L, 0.5 mL; (F) 16.9 g/L, 0.5 mL.
The process of flame quenching in the foam with small expansion
ratio is related with flame acceleration (Fig. 12). Although the foam ini-
tially demonstrates the features of combustibility however the flame is
not able to propagate in such foam protractedly. The existence of such a
regime of foam combustion can be explained in the following manner.
Increase in the flame speed is determined by the increase in intensity
of explosive boiling of liquid phase of the foam. On the other hand this
intensification of the process of explosive boiling favors formation of
smaller droplets of water. If the average size of water drops is small
enough, the high-intensive evaporation will cause large heat losses
from the flame front that in turn could cause flame quenching. In a man-
ner the process of flame acceleration itself determines the mechanism
of its inhibition. After the ignition the flame accelerates but as soon as
the flame speed achieves a certain value (30 m/s) the flame is
quenching (Fig. 12).
An important role in foamed emulsion combustion belongs to the
explosive boiling of liquid phase of the foam. Inside the superheated
emulsion the vapor nuclei could arise both in water and oil phases as
well as on the water/oil interface. The sizes of fuel and water drops
formed in the process of foam decay depend on where the vapor bub-
bles nucleation takes place. In turn as it was already discussed above
the relation between water and oil sizes affects the flame speed in the
foam. Predominantly the nucleation of vapor bubbles takes place inside
the hydrocarbon phase if the condition σwo N σw − σo is satisfied [44].
According to the data presented in Table 1 the addition of glycerol
into the emulsion does not lead to the violation of this condition. There-
fore the nucleation inside the superheated water/heptane emulsion
takes place inside the heptane phase. Due to this it can be concluded
that the glycerol could affect the flame speed only via the changes in
foam expansion ratio.
4. Conclusions
The paper represents experimental results on the combustion of
foamed emulsion. We analyzed the influences of magnesium oxide mi-
croparticles, glycerol and surfactant on the total burning rate and on the
stability of foamed emulsion. On the base of obtained data the following
conclusions can be formulated.
(1) The use of magnesium oxide particles leads to the increase in the
total burning rate of the foam. Thus at 34.9 vol% content of hep-
tane in the initial emulsion the increase in MgO particles
84 B. Kichatov et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 166 (2017) 77–85

Fig. 11. Structure of combustion zone. Tube diameter is 27 mm. Foam is prepared from heptane (2 mL), water (3.3 mL), detergent (1.7 mL), hydrogen peroxide (3 mL), ammonia solution of
copper sulfate (1.3 mL, 1.05 mol/L): volume fraction of the glycerol in the emulsion was (a) 0%, foam expansion ratio, 9.7; (b) 4.2%, 7.6. Time is measured from the moment of foam ignition.
Instantaneous values of flame speed are presented for each time instant.

concentration from 0 up to 8 g/L determines increase in the total
burning rate from 2 to 22 m/s. This rise in the total burning rate is
related with the transition from the oscillating regime of foam
combustion to the accelerated one.
(2) In the lean foam MgO solid particles cause negligible influence on
the total burning rate of the foam. This is related with
degeneration of mechanism of explosive boiling of liquid phase
of the foam.
(3) There is a maximum in the dependence of total burning rate on
the concentration of surfactant (SDS). Foam expansion ratio has
the same non-monotonic dependence on the surfactant concen-
tration. Thus there is a direct dependence between total burning
 B. Kichatov et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 166 (2017) 77–85
Fig. 12. Plots of the flame speed and distance traveled vs. time; foam is prepared from
heptane (2 mL), water (3.3 mL), detergent (1.7 mL), glycerol (0.2 mL), hydrogen
peroxide (3 mL), and ammonia solution of copper sulfate (1.3 mL, 1.05 mol/L); foam
expansion ratio, 9.7; total burning rate, 5.6 m/s. Tube diameter is 20 mm.
rate and the foam expansion ratio. Total burning rate increases
with foam expansion ratio that is related with decrease in heat
losses from the combustion zone.
(4) The use of glycerol leads to the decrease in foam expansion ratio
and ambiguously affects the foam stability. The decrease in foam
expansion ratio causes increase in heat losses from the flame
front that favors flame quenching.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Russian Science Foundation (Project
Number 14-50-00124).
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