Experimental Study of Biodiesel Spray and Combustion

Characteristics
This paper compares the difference in spray characteristics and combustion characteristics
between biodiesel (a commercial biodiesel derived from rapeseed oil) and normal diesel. A high
speed camera was used to capture the spray characteristics and gas chromatography was used
to investigate the emission characteristics. The parameters used to investigate the two fuels
were nozzle orifice diameter, rotate speed of the fuel pump and fuel injection pressure at the
opening. The results showed that both the fuels showed compliance with the expected fuel
characteristics. However, there was a difference between the biodiesel and normal diesel. The
biodiesel had a longer spray tip penetration and almost half the spray angle of diesel. These
results were attributed to the physical properties of biodiesel such as a higher density, viscosity,
surface tension and boiling point. The hydrocarbon emissions was lower for biodiesel owing to
a higher oxygen content and the NOx emissions were less owing to a lower flame temperature.