Technical Paper
Bio-butanol Fuel Utilization Technologies: Electrostatic Sprays, Diffusion Flames and Kinetic Modeling
2011-04-12
2011-01-0619
Butanol produced from agricultural sources is emerging as a potentially renewable bio-fuel. In this work, three bio-butanol fuel utilization technologies were considered to evaluate its potential: Electrostatic sprays, non-premixed flames and kinetic modeling. Butanol electrospray phenomenology was investigated through high-speed visualization and compared with the corresponding electrosprays of ethanol and heptane. Electrospray structure was probed using Phase Doppler Anemometry and both droplet size and velocity measurements were obtained for sprays of the three fuels under consideration. Particular emphasis was placed on the determination of the dependence of droplet size and velocity on mass flow rate and applied electric field. These results indicated an unstable, and polydisperse electrospray behavior and secondary droplet break-up due to high Weber numbers was investigated. Non-premixed flames were studied in a counter-flow burner configuration.