Experimental study on the evaporation characteristics of biodiesel-ABE blended droplets

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) 2021-12, Vol.236, p.121453, Article 121453
• Main Authors: Han, Kai, Liu, Yu, Wang, Chengxin, Tian, Junjian, Song, Zhihui, Lin, Qizhao, Meng, Kesheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ABE; Biodiesel; Evaporation parameters; Micro-explosion
• ISSN: 0360-5442
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.121453

At an atmospheric pressure, the effects of different temperatures and acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) content on the evaporation characteristics of biodiesel-ABE blended droplets suspended on a thermocouple fiber were investigated. The experimental results showed that micro-explosion did not occur for B80A20 (BX1AX2 represented that the volume fractions of biodiesel and ABE were X1% and X2%, respectively) blended droplets at 530 and 730 °C. The micro-explosion intensity increased first and then decreased，and reached the maximum at B40A60. Besides, it increased with temperature at certain ABE content. The fluctuation delay decreased first and then increased with ABE content, and the minimum was obtained at B60A40. In addition, it decreased with the temperature. The variation trend of micro-explosion delay was similar to that of fluctuation delay. The equivalent evaporation rate in the transient heating stage (k1) increased with the increase of ABE content, but decreased with the increase of temperature. Among all the blended droplets, the B40A60 droplets had the shortest lifetime. It can be speculated that there is an optimal ABE content between 40% and 60%, which makes the biodiesel-ABE blended droplets have the best evaporation performance. That is, the blended droplets have stronger micro-explosion and ejection, shorter fluctuation delay time and lifetime. [Display omitted] •A new calculation formula for micro-explosion intensity was established.•Four behaviors of droplet evaporation were observed and distinguished.•The variation of evaporation parameters was analyzed in detail.