Instantaneous 2-D visualization of spray combustion and flame luminosity of GTL and GTL-biodiesel fuel blend under quiescent ambient conditions

An experimental study has been performed on spray combustion and two-dimensional soot concentration in diesel (ULSD), GTL and GTL-biodiesel fuel jets under high-pressure, high-temperature quiescent conditions. Instantaneous images of the fuel jets were obtained with a high-speed camera. It was confirmed that by blending GTL with 20% rapeseed biodiesel, certain fuel properties such as kinematic viscosity, density, surface tension, volatility, lower heating value and others may be designed and improved to be more like those of conventional diesel fuel but with considerable decrease in the amount of sulfur, PAH, cold filter plugging point, etc. The results showed that the spray tip penetration increased and the spray cone angle decreased when 20% biodiesel fuel was added to GTL fuel. Autoignition of the GTL-biodiesel blend occurred slightly earlier than that of diesel fuel. Experiments under high-pressure, high-temperature conditions showed that higher injection pressure induced a lower soot formation rate. The integrated flame luminosity, which serves as an indicator of soot concentration in the fuel jet, was slightly higher for the GTL-biodiesel blend than for pure GTL fuel due to the slightly higher sulfur content of pure biodiesel fuel.