As fossil fuel resources are considered non-renewable sources of fuel, they will be totally consumed in the near or far future. Due to the intensive and extensive consumption of these fossil fuels in all life sectors such as transportation, power generation, industrial processes, and residential consumption, it is important to find other new methods to cover this fuel demand. Fuel additives are chemicals used to enhance fuel combustion performance, save fuel amounts required for combustion, and correct deficiencies in power and efficiency during consumption. The fuel additives are blended with the traditional fuel even by parts per million range for controlling chemical contaminants and emission reduction.
In the present work, the experimental measurements were done, to evaluate the effect of fuel additive blending with the raw heavy fuel oil (Mazut) on fuel saving which is of a great significance, emissions control, and combustion characteristics as well as the combustion efficiency. These measurements are as follows: initial temperature of Mazut, exhaust gas temperature at the end of combustor, air and fuel mass flow rates to determine the heat load, inlet and outlet temperatures of cooling water, mass flow rate of water, concentration of different exhaust gases, acoustic (noise level) measurements, smoke number, and flame length. These measurements are performed using swirled vanes, co-axial, and double heavy fuel nozzle (1.5 gal/hr for each one) burner with maximum heating load of 550 kW.
GC-MS (Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) analysis was performed by using Hewlett Packard model 5890 equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID) to identify the fuel additives substances within the tested samples.
The results reveal that the use of fuel additives improves the combustion characteristics and play an important role in fuel saving as well as emission and combustion process.
Evaluation of Combustion Characteristics of Heavy Fuel Oil by Single Droplet Combustion
