Heating fuel from liquid

The heating of a fuel affects the overall size of the fuel system. Generally, fuel heating is a more important concern in connection with gaseous fuels, since liquid fuels all come from petroleum crude and show narrow heating-value variations. Gaseous fuels, on the other hand, can vary from llOOBtu/ft (41,000 KJ/m ) for natural gas to (11,184 KJ/m ) or below for process gas. The fuel system will of necessity have to be larger for the process gas, since more is required for the same temperature rise. 

These results indicate that the enthalpy associated with air (and also steam) has an effect on the resulting droplet size. A larger droplet size with preheated air than steam reveals that there must be effects other than just the enthalpy associated with steam. Some of the possible factors include viscosity and density differences between the gases, and that water contained in steam may become miscible under these conditions. In this case, the large differences in the boiling points between the two fluids (water and kerosene) may lead to disruptive breakup of the liquid fuel, even at 10 mm, via rapid heat transfer from the flame. 

An alternative approach for the utilization of biomass resources for energy applications is the production of dean-buming liquid fuels. In this respect, current technologies to produce liquid fuels from biomass are typically multi-step and energy-intensive processes. Aqueous phase reforming of sorbitol can be tailored to produce selectively a clean stream of heavier alkanes consisting primarily of butane, pentane and hexane. The conversion of sorbitol to alkanes plus CO2 and water is an exothermic process that retains approximately 95% of the heating value and only 30% of the mass of the biomass-derived reactant [278]. 

The bomb calorimeter provides the most suitable and accurate apparatus for determination of the calorific values of solid and liquid fuels. Since the combustion takes place in a closed system, heat transfer from the calorimeter to the water is complete, and since the reaction is one between the fuel and gaseous oxygen, no corrections are necessary for the heat absorbed during the reduction of the oxidizing agent. In addition, the losses due to radiation can be reduced to comparatively small quantities, and more important, can be determined with a considerable degree of accuracy. Corrections due to the heat evolved in the formation of nitric and sulfuric acids under the conditions existing in the bomb can be determined accurately. 

Let us consider the symmetrical burning of a spherical droplet with the radius rp in surroundings without convection. Assume that there is an infinitely thin flame zone from the surface of the droplet to the radial distance rn [137], which is much larger than the radius of the droplet, rp. The heat released from the burning is conducted back to the surface to evaporate liquid fuel for combustion. Because the reaction is extremely fast, there exists no oxidant in the range of rp< r < m while no fuel vapor is available at r > rn. At a quasi steady state the mass flux through the spherical surface with the radius r (>rp), Mfv, can be obtained with Fick s law as... 

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