Laboratory of Robotics and Engineering Systems

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Influence of aluminum nanoparticles in alternative fuel: Single droplet combustion experiments and modeling

Publication . Ferrão, Inês; Mendes, Tomás; Mendes, Miguel; Moita, A. S.; Silva, A. R. R.

In this work, the effect of adding aluminum nanoparticles on hydrotreated vegetable oil was investigated experimentally and numerically in terms of nanofuel stability and single droplet combustion. The purpose is to understand the phenomena related to isolated droplet combustion when metallic particles are added to a liquid biofuel. Falling droplet combustion experiments were conducted in a drop tube furnace at two different furnace temperatures (800 C and 1000 C) using a high-speed camera coupled with a high magnification lens to investigate the droplet size evolution as disruptive burning phenomena. In numerical terms, a simplified macroscopic model was developed to predict the burning behavior of isolated nanofuel droplets, considering hexadecane as a surrogate fuel for the biofuel. The results reveal that adding nanoparticles resulted in a departure from the -law. Moreover, an increase in the overall droplet burning rate was observed, and according to the numerical results, nanoparticle radiation absorption is the responsible mechanism. Micro-explosions occurred for all nanofuels, and this disruptive burning behavior substantially influenced the droplet lifetime.

2024-09-07Journal article

Open access