Study of droplet size for palm bio-fuel blends

Abstract

The type of fuel atomizer chosen for this study is the pressure swirl atomizer. This type of atomizer can create a swirling motion imparted to the fuel, leading it under the action of centrifugal force and spreading the fuel in hollow cone after the fuel leaves the orifice. The reason for choosing this type of injector is because it was widely used in gas turbine and liquid propellant rocket. The fuel to be tested is the Refined Blenched Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO) based biofuel. The injector was simulated using CFD simulation software, Fluent to predict the behavior of an evaporating fuel spray and also the angle of spray. The Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) and the spray cone angle are evaluated and compared with the empirical equation result. Besides that the SMD also measured with a laser scattering system to compare with the theoretically method result.