SPRAYS OF BIOMASS PYROLYSIS OIL EMULSIONS: MODELLING AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION. PRELIMINARY RESULTS ON MODELLING

Emulsions of biomass pyrolysis oils (POs) and Light Fuel Oil (LFO)/Diesel fuel have been developed in the past years with the aim of facilitating the use of this renewable fuel for both heat and power&heat applications. Some basic fuel properties, such as viscosity or ignition delay, are significantly different between emulsions and pure PO. The understanding of the injection of PO/LFO emulsion is a key issue to optimise the combustion of this fuel. The present work is a preliminary step towards the investigation of PO/LFO emulsion atomization with commercially available nozzles that are commonly used in standard smallscale boilers. A correlation model is derived from existing models for other fuels in order to estimate the most relevant parameters of the spray: model output will then be validated by measurements in an experimental device. An experimental unit has therefore been designed for testing injection of PO/LFO emulsion and comparing the emulsion behaviour with pure LFO and Diesel oil. Laser scattering techniques will be used to investigate standard nozzles. The experimental and numerical research work will make available a more detailed insight into the atomisation of emulsions.