| Popis: |
Domestic space heaters, i.e., convective (wick-type) and injector types were tested using Kerosene, biodiesel, and their blends. First, the heaters were tested using the conventional Kerosene fuel to set the baseline for the performance. Then blends of biodiesel and Kerosene were prepared and used as fuel to replace Kerosene, and their respective performance was studied. The blends proposed were 0% (pure biodiesel), 25% B-K (25% Biodiesel, and 75% Kerosene), and 50% K-B by volume. The parameters used for comparison were the average flue gas temperatures and the amount of fuel consumed during the test. Results showed that biodiesel is 11% more dense than kerosene and 10.7% higher in calorific value. Further, with injection-type heaters, results showed around 10% and 15% reduction in the flue gas temperature when using 25% and 50% biodiesel in the mixture, respectively, with around 20% and 25% reduction in fuel consumption. Beyond these concentrations, the heater did not work. Further, with the use of the wick-type heater, the results showed the need to change the type of wick materials since the amount of fuel wetting the surface was higher when using biodiesel compared with Kerosene. From the time constant point of view, the addition of biodiesel caused the time constant to reduce from 202 to 181 s for CO2 and from 166 to approximately 75 for NOx emissions. This was observed for both rise and fall behaviours. |
