Experimental Investigation of Flash Pyrolysis Oil Droplet Combustion

Abstract

The aim of this work is to investigate and compare the combustion behaviour of a single droplet of pyrolysis oil derived from wheat straw and heavy fossil oil in a single droplet combustion chamber. The initial oil droplet diameters were in between 500 µm to 2500 µm. The experiments were performed at a temperature ranging between 1000 and 1400°C with an initial gas velocity of 1.6 m/s and oxygen concentration of 3%. The evolution of combustion of bio-oil droplets was recorded by a digital video camera. It was observed that the combustion behaviour of pyrolysis oil droplet differ from the heavy oil in terms both of ignition, devolatilisation and char oxidation. The pyrolysis oil is more difficult to ignite and has a shorter devolatilisation time and a longer char oxidation time.