Session: Government Agency Student Posters

Paper Number: 167007

Boron Oxide Nanoparticle Enhanced Biofuel Droplet Combustion 

Biofuels have been studied to provide cleaner burning fuels to reduce emissions in transportation, as well as serving as a renewable energy source by using food product or used cooking oil to create fuel instead of being wasted. Although biofuels are cleaner, they often lack the power output produced through fossil fuel combustion. Nanofuels are a potential solution to both problems. Nanofuels are a homogenous colloidal mixture between base fuel(s), and nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are nano sized carbon or metal-based particles. This means that one particle is 10 million times smaller than a centimeter. Nanoparticles have increased thermodynamic characteristics compared to larger materials of the same chemical composition, even micron sized particles, due to their increased surface area to volume ratio. The nanoparticles have high energetic potential when combusted, allowing for nanofuels to produce increased energy release during combustion, more complete oxidation of fuel, increased thermal conductivity, and increased burning rate among other thermodynamic benefits. The more complete oxidation leads to less fuel by-products to reduce emissions, and the increased reaction energy in the form of heat leads to increased power production. The nanoparticle of interest boron oxide, has not been researched for combustion or thermodynamic purposes, but it is an oxide of boron which has one of the highest gravimetric and volumetric energy potentials of any pure metal. But, boron oxide is more economically feasible to purchase and produce, giving it more merit as an additive to produce drop-in nanoparticle additive enhanced biofuels.

In this research, a homogeneous mixture of base fuel and nanoparticles will be synthesized for testing. The base fuel is algae derived biofuel. The mixture is to be synthesized via sonication aided by a surfactant. Different mass fractions of nanoparticles and surfactants will be researched, with a total NF volume of 1ml. Post synthesis, the synthesized nanofuel will be stored in a refrigerator until testing. During testing, a single droplet is dispensed via microsyringe onto silicon carbide fibers and ignited with radiation heat transfer via hot wires. High speed cameras are employed to capture the droplet as it burns. The cameras are calibrated with a known value to create a conversion factor to ensure the true diameter of the droplet can be converted from pixels. A Python based AI machine learning image processing software called Annolid is employed to efficiently track the droplet from the time before it ignites to when the droplet is completely evaporated. By tracking the droplet diameter as it burns, the burning rate constant can be obtained. The droplet morphology can be studied using the videos captured by the cameras, and SEM images of the nanoparticles immersed in the base fluid. This is important to understand how the nanoparticle additives affect the fluid characteristics of the droplet being that it is a homogeneous solid-liquid mixture. The goal of this research is to advance knowledge on additive enhanced biofuels as a feasible alternative to the current widely used fossil fuels in transportation through the study of characterization, suspension, and burning rate.

Presenting Author: Gabriel Mejia University of Tennessee- Chattanooga

Presenting Author Biography: I am a senior undergraduate mechnical engineering student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. I began doing research at the end of last summer, and began this particular research project that I am presenting on last Fall, I continue to work on both research projects simultaneously. I am a co-team lead on my NASA USLI competition, as well as leading the avionics team and helping on the payload team. I am interested in the fields of aerospace and combustion. Engineering has provided me direction in life and has become my passion. When I began college in 2020 I was still unsure of what I wanted to do and struggled because of it. I began studying mechnical engineering in 2022 and have loved my time since, although it is very difficult, it has allowed me to push through and excel. Beginning research is something that only deepens my interest in the field as well as allows me deepen my learning and understanding of my favorite sub-fields of engineering being thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics, as well as getting valuable hands on experience on real world projects while still being a student.

Authors:

Gabriel Mejia University of Tennessee- Chattanooga
Yunye Shi University of Tennessee-Chattanooga