Researches on the mixture limits of animal fats with liquid hydrocarbons for combustion at industrial level

Abstract

The experimental research has highlighted the variety of possibilities of combustion of animal fat from bovine and swine mixed with liquid hydrocarbons. Previous research has established that the upper limit for an efficient combustion was 30 %. For a perfect mixing, the lower temperature limit was set to 40 °C. In the fuel laboratory, at the department TMETF was determined the viscosity of the mixtures for different proportions. The values obtained for various concentrations and preheating temperatures were close to the values for liquid hydrocarbons. The experimental researches have studied the combustion of the mixture using a mechanically spraying burner with constant pressure between 14 and 18 bar. The aspiration of the mixture is done from a specially designed tank; this tank is equipped with an electric heater, in order to maintain the mixture at a constant temperature between 40 °C to 50 °C. After that, the burner heats again the mixture with an integrated heating device up to 75 °C. The burner is also equipped with an air blower, pump and a calibrated nozzle. The combustion resulted from the experimental boiler with a power rated to 55 kW were monitored with a thermal vision camera and an exhaust gas analyser. This research has demonstrated the viability of using this type of mixtures in energetic burning equipment designed for liquid hydrocarbons.