Analysis of biodiesel combustion in a boiler with a pressure operated mechanical pulverisation burner

Biodiesel used as fuel for internal combustion engines must meet the European quality standard for biodiesel, which requires a thorough inspection at the time of collection, storage and use. There is a large amount of biodiesel in Spain today which does not meet the required specifications for use in internal combustion engines and which might otherwise be used for thermal purposes in installations. This article offers a study of the use of biodiesel in a conventional combustion facility. This work presents the experimental results of biodiesel combustion with diesel for heating. The work is divided into two sections. The first deals with the characteristics of biodiesel as a heating fuel; the characteristics of heating fuel; the characteristics of the mixtures of biodiesel and heating fuel, thus enabling an estimation of the theoretical combustion results. The second part deals with the combustion of the mixtures. For this, we establish a series of parameters to be controlled in the combustion depending on the chosen burner. We present the tests, describe the experimental facilities where the tests were conducted and present the experimental results and analysis thereof. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.