Thin filament pyrometry of bio-fuels on a counter-flow burner

Abstract

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.

As a result of increasing greenhouse gases and decreasing petroleum supplies, new fuel sources such as bio-fuels have emerged with the potential to partially replace fossil fuels. The goal of this study is to characterize and verify the combustion and emission properties of different bio-fuels such as ethanol and propanol at different equivalence ratios. Using an electric pre-heater, the fuel is vaporized and premixed with air leading to combustion in a counter-flow tubular flat flame burner at atmospheric pressure and under laminar conditions. Thin filament pyrometry technique has been used to measure the temperature profiles across the flame. In this technique, silicon carbide fibers with the diameter of 15 µm have been used along with a blue color Schott glass filter and custom white balance to yield similar red, green, and blue intensities along the fibers. Calibration of the pyrometer was accomplished using B-type thermocouple measurements. The pyrometer calibration is valid between 1350 and 1500 °C.