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  Cornell University

MAE Publications and Papers

Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

New article: Droplet Combustion Characteristics of Algae-derived Renewable Diesel, Conventional #2 Diesel, and Their Mixtures

Article:  Xu, Y; Keresztes, I; Condo, AM; Phillips, D; Pepiot, P; Avedisian, CT; (2016)  “Droplet Combustion Characteristics of Algae-derived Renewable Diesel, Conventional #2 Diesel, and Their Mixtures”, Fuel, 167: 295-305

DOI

Abstract:  Fuels derived from bio-feedstocks have received significant attention for their potential to reduce the consumption of petroleum-based liquid fuels, either through blending or direct use. Biofuels produced from heterotrophic microalgae are particularly attractive because of fast conversion of sustainable plant sugars into renewable oils of controllable quality and composition, but without the need for sunlight or carbon from the atmosphere for growth.

This paper describes the results of a fundamental study of the combustion characteristics of hydroprocessed renewable diesel fuel (HRD) produced from this strain of algae, and the results are compared to #2 diesel fuel (DF2) and an equi-volume mixture of HRD and #2 diesel (R50) as representative of blending. A canonical combustion configuration is used for a liquid fuel consisting of an isolated droplet burning with spherical symmetry and with fuel transport being entirely the result of evaporation at the droplet surface. This fundamental liquid fuel burning configuration is conducive to articulating the evaporation and sooting dynamics involved.

The results show that combustion rates and relative positions of the flame and soot aggregates to the droplet surface of HRD droplets are quite close to R50 and DF2 in spite of their significant chemical and sooting differences. These trends are explained based on similarities in the thermal properties of the fuels. Sooting propensity of #2 diesel is greater than that of HRD, with the mixture falling qualitatively in-between. The results suggest that HRD derived from heterotrophic microalgae can potentially be considered a drop-in replacement for DF2 or serve as an additive to DF2. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Funding Acknowledgement:  Cornell University’s David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (ACSF) under an Academic Venture Fund (AVF) grant; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) [NNX15AB33G, NNX008AI51G]

Funding Text:  This work was supported in part by Cornell University’s David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (ACSF) under an Academic Venture Fund (AVF) grant, and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Grants NNX15AB33G and NNX008AI51G with Dr. Graham Kerslick of Cornell and Mr. Michael Hicks as the Project Monitors. The authors are also pleased to acknowledge Prof. Francis J. DiSalvo of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology for his interest in our work and for assisting in developing the collaborative team. The interest of Prof. Charles Greene, and the assistance of Ms. Meilin Dong of Cornell with some of the experimental work, is also greatly appreciated.

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