ERI: Characterizing and improving algae-derived biofuel droplet burning

University Of Tennessee Chattanooga, Chattanooga TN

Investigators

Abstract

Algae-derived fuels bring great opportunities for reducing the consumption of petroleum-derived liquid fuels without competing with current agricultural land use. Although the production of algae-derived fuel and its performances in full-scale engines have been extensively studied, fundamental droplet burning characteristics is still lacking. This project aims to gain fundamental insights on algae-derived fuel droplet burning dynamics such as droplet evolution during burning, burning rate, and sooting propensity. The study will also identify ways to improve combustion properties by utilizing additives. This will be an important step in employing algae-derived fuels as alternatives to existing liquid fuels without any significant modification to existing engines. Results from this project will contribute to the development of renewable energy utilization. The project will support undergraduate and graduate students, especially encouraging underrepresented students to participate in this research. The supported students will receive a broad research experience in experimental design, droplet combustion, image processing, and data analysis. This project aims to characterize the algae-derived renewable liquid fuel droplet combustion process and identify ways to improve combustion properties by using polymer and nanoparticle additives. The study employs an experimental test rig of a fiber-supported isolated droplet combustion system to perform four tasks: i) for algae-derived renewable liquid fuel, characterizing droplets evolution during a combustion process in terms of droplet size, burning rate, and soot formation; ii) identifying combustion property differences between conventional petroleum-derived fuels and algae-derived fuels; iii) learning droplet burning dynamics with the change of different blending and blending percentages; and iv) determining impacts of additives on such fuel droplet combustion properties and dynamics. Results from the study will improve our understanding on the feasibility of algae-derived fuels as “drop-in” environmentally sustainable fuels to decrease fossil fuel dependency. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.