Flame characteristics of glycerol/methanol blends in a swirl-stabilised gas turbine burner

Agwu, Ogbonnaya, Valera Medina, Agustin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1580-7133, Tomaz, Katrašnikb and Tine, Seljak 2021. Flame characteristics of glycerol/methanol blends in a swirl-stabilised gas turbine burner. Fuel 290 , 119968. 10.1016/j.fuel.2020.119968

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Abstract

Finding alternative value-added usage for glycerol is imperative as existing uses are inadequate due to the vast excesses of glycerol generated mainly as a result of increased biodiesel production. This paper explores a mid-term, cost-efficient, technically viable utilisation in power generation applications and exposes the nature of its combustion. Blended with methanol to avoid the heat loss and fuel coking problems associated with preheating, glycerol was combusted in a model swirl-stabilised gas turbine burner utilising a standard pressure-swirl injector for fuel atomisation. Stable flames resulting from the tested blends – 70/30 and 50/50 combinations of methanol/glycerol by volume – were achieved over an equivalence ratio (ER) range between 0.29 and 0.51. The upper and lower limits of stable operating ER for the 70/30 case were accompanied by significant flame lift-off from the nozzle exit orifice – a phenomenon that was not pronounced in the 50/50 case. Also, the temporal variation of CH* species integral intensity suggested a reduction in the fluctuation of heat release rate, hence better flame stability, as ER increased for both blends. Overall, the 50/50 case showed greater flame stability compared with the 70/30 case based on the CH* chemiluminescence data and spectral analysis by means of fast Fourier transform.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Engineering
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0016-2361
Funders:	research core funding No. P2-0401
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	6 January 2021
Date of Acceptance:	7 December 2020
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 21:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/137214

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