Spray Characteristics, Combustion Performance, and Palm Oil Emissions in a Low-Pressure Auxiliary Air Fluid Pulverization Burner

This work presents the experimental results from refined palm vegetable oil atomization and combustion processes in a low-pressure auxiliary air fluid pulverization burner. The physicochemical properties that define palm vegetable oil as a fuel (density, kinematic viscosity, heating value, and elemental analysis) were first determined. The fatty acid composition was then established by proton high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. A description was provided of a procedure based on direct photographic imaging in order to determine the macroscopic properties that define the atomization spray, spray tip penetration, and spray cone angle. The influence of varying the fuel and secondary air flows in the atomization and combustion processes was also studied. The polluting emissions and combustion efficiencies in the different test conditions and how these vary depending on the atomization parameters was then evaluated. In general, admissible combustion efficiencies were obtained, with CO and NOx emissions below permitted levels. Most of the experiments carried out showed that the lower the spray cone angle the greater the combustion efficiency.