Vegetable Oil Conditioning for Combustion

The development of a straight vegetable oil (SVO) blending technology for combustion in boilers and in diesel engines is proposed. The overall objective of the proposal is to address the problems associated with using SVO as fuel; such as high viscosity, poor low temperature flow behavior, fuel inject and combustion chamber carbon deposition and engine power loss due to long term use. Vegetable oil conditioned to improve engine performance and to reduce exhaust emissions. Mathematical models will be established for predicting and calculating the viscosity, cloud point and heat of combustion of blended fuels. Diesel engine tests will be performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed technology and correctness of the calculations. The project will be designed to identify fuel properties, e.g., viscosity, volatility, heat of combustion, density, etc., that must be modified to meet ASTM fuel performance specifications. Provided basic feasibility is demonstrated in Phase I, the Phase II strategy is to extend research to in large-scale and long-term diesel engine testing. The formulated fuel testing will also be extended to boilers, generators and other diesel based combustion devices and machineries.