Effect of Preheating Temperature and Extraction Pressure on Combustion Characteristics of Cake from Whole, Kernels and Crushed Jatropha Seed

Abstract

The Low heating value, reaction time, burning temperature and gas emission of jatropha seed cake respectively from whole, kernel and crushed seeds preheated at 25°, 50°, 75° and 100°C temperature and under 8400, 15000 and 19500 pounds pressure levels were assessed. At this effect, the combustion process consisted in introducing 20 g of each cake sample type into a one liter volume burning chamber and 130 g of water also into one liter water compartment of a designed combustion unit. The main results were as follow. The highest lower Heating value (21,51±93,64 MJ/kg) was obtained with the cake from crushed seeds preheated at 100°C and under of 15000 pounds pressure. The highest reaction time (1072,66±153,44 seconds) was registered with cake from kernel seeds also preheated at 100°C but with 19500 pounds pressure. The highest burning temperature was recorded from the whole jatropha seed cake. The highest carbon monoxide level () was recorded during crushed and whole seeds cake combustion while the carbon dioxide level was the highest with the kernel seed cake.