Torrefaction process of biomass material is essential in converting them into biofuel with improved calorific value and physical strength. However, the production of torrefied biomass is loose, powdery, and nonuniform. One method of upgrading this material to improve their handling and combustion properties is by densification into briquettes of higher density than the original bulk density of the material. The effects of critical parameters of briquetting process that includes the type of biomass material used for torrefaction and briquetting, densification temperature, and composition of binder for torrefied biomass are studied and characterized. Starch is used as a binder in the study. The results showed that the briquette of torrefied rubber seed kernel (RSK) is better than torrefied palm oil shell (POS) in both calorific value and compressive strength. The best quality of briquettes is yielded from torrefied RSK at the ambient temperature of briquetting process with the composition of 60% water and 5% binder. The maximum compressive load for the briquettes of torrefied RSK is 141 N and the calorific value is 16 MJ/kg. Based on the economic evaluation analysis, the return of investment (ROI) for the mass production of both RSK and POS briquettes is estimated in 2-year period and the annual profit after payback was approximately 107,428.6 USD.
This paper presents a numerical analysis of the application of emulsified biofuel (EB) to diesel engines. The study performs a numerical study of three different guide vane designs (GVD) that are incorporated with a shallow depth re-entrance combustion chamber (SCC) piston. The GVD variables were used in three GVD models with different vane heights, that is, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 times the radius of the intake runner (R) and these were named 0.20R, 0.40R and 0.60R. The SCC piston and GVD model were designed using SolidWorks 2017, while ANSYS Fluent version 15 was used to perform cold flow engine 3D analysis. The results of the numerical study showed that 0.60R is the optimum guide vane height, as the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE), swirl ratio (Rs), tumble ratio (RT) and cross tumble ratio (RCT) in the fuel injection region improved from the crank angle before the start of injection (SOI) and start of combustion (SOC). This is essential to break up the heavier-fuel molecules of EB so that they mix with the surrounding air, which eventually improves the engine performance.
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