COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ATOMIZATION CHARACTERISTICS OF FIFTEEN BIODIESEL FUEL TYPES

Abstract

Engine results using biofuels have varied considerably in the reported literature. This article addresses twopotential sources of this variation, atomization differences and impurities due to lack of quality control during production.Atomization is the first process encountered during the combustion of fuels in a compression ignition engine and is largelydetermined by the fuels viscosity and surface tension. Previous work using five experimentally produced methyl esterbiodiesel fuels showed that the viscosity and surface tension could be predicted from their fatty acid ester composition,and the atomization characteristics in turn could be predicted from their viscosity and surface tension. This article utilizesthe results of that work to give a quantitative comparison of the atomization characteristics of fifteen biodiesel fuel typesusing the fuels viscosity and surface tension, predicted directly from the fatty acid composition of the fuels. Except forcoconut and rapeseed biodiesel fuels, all of the rest of the 15 biodiesel fuels had similar atomization characteristics. Sincethe most likely contaminant in the fuel from the processing was residual glycerides, their effect on viscosity and surfacetension was studied experimentally and their effect on the atomization characteristics was computed.