The Effect of Atmospheric Oxygen on the Puffing and Bursting Phenomena during Vegetable Oils Droplets Vaporization Process for Their Use as Biofuel in Diesel Engine

The past literature on the use of vegetable oils as fuel in diesel engine revealed that utilizing vegetable oil fuels in diesel engines may require property changes in the oil or perhaps, some minor engine modifications or operating changes. This study was conducted to search for the effect of atmospheric oxygen on the puffing and bursting phenomena that occur during vegetable oils droplet vaporization process in their use as fuel in diesel engine. The fiber-suspended droplet technique was used, and the normalized square droplet diameter as well as the temperature evolution vicinity the droplet was analyzed. The results show that puffing and bursting phenomena highly depend on oxygen. In presence of atmospheric oxygen, there is an increase of the puffing and bursting intensity and therefore the evaporation rate of the vegetable oil droplets, but in an inert environment or when the environment is oxygen-depleted puffing and bursting phenomena disappearing and make place of a series of explosions with lower magnitude. The lack of oxygen reduces the thermal degradation, polymerization and oxidation reactions and consequently the vaporization rate of vegetable oils droplets; and could therefore lead to the formation of deposits in the form of polymers. This is unsuitable for their use as a fuel in diesel engines. It can also be concluded that atmospheric oxygen has some positive effects on engine performance and emissions when operating with vegetable oil. These results help to address the challenge for the use of alternative fuels such as non-edible vegetable oils.