Water-In-Oil Emulsion as Boiler Fuel for Reduced NO x Emissions and Improved Energy Saving

Chung-Yao Hsuan, Shuhn-Shyurng Hou, Yun-Li Wang and Ta-Hui Lin
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Chung-Yao Hsuan: Green Energy Technology Research Center, Kun Shan University, Tainan 71070, Taiwan
Shuhn-Shyurng Hou: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kun Shan University, Tainan 71070, Taiwan
Yun-Li Wang: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kun Shan University, Tainan 71070, Taiwan
Ta-Hui Lin: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: An experimental system for observing the drop vaporization and microexplosion characteristics of emulsified droplets in high-temperature environments was conducted to analyze the effects of environmental temperature, droplet size, and water content on droplet behavior. In addition, emulsified low-sulfur heavy fuel oil (HFO) with a 20 vol% water content and pure low-sulfur HFO were used as fuels for burning in an industrial boiler under normal operating conditions. The results showed that by using an emulsified HFO with a 20 vol% water content, the boiler efficiency can be improved by 2%, and that a reduction of 35 ppm in NO x emissions (corresponding to a NO x reduction rate of 18%) can be achieved. These advantages are due to the occurrence of a microexplosion during the combustion of the emulsified droplets. It was observed that when emulsified HFO with a 20 vol% water content was used, the fuel (HFO) consumption rate was 252 l/h. On the other hand, the fuel consumption rate was 271 l/h when pure low-sulfur HFO was used. Therefore, a reduction of 19 l/h in the fuel (HFO) consumption rate was achieved when using the water-in-oil emulsion, corresponding to fuel savings of 7%.

Keywords: water-emulsified fuel; boiler efficiency; NO x emissions; microexplosion; droplets evaporation; energy saving (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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