Experimental investigation of water emulsion fuel stability

TL;DR

This paper introduces an economical method to assess the stability of water-in-hydrocarbon emulsion fuels over time, addressing phase separation issues without chemical stabilizers, which is crucial for their practical application.

Contribution

The study presents a novel, cost-effective technique for evaluating emulsion fuel stability and demonstrates its effectiveness in analyzing phase separation over time.

Findings

Method successfully detects phase separation.

Emulsion stability varies with storage time.

Potential to extend to other multicomponent fluids.

Abstract

The combustion of liquid fuels emulsified with water have long generated interest in the internal combustion engine research community. Typically, these fuels consist of small quantities of water emulsified with ultrasonification or other mechanical methods into a pure or multicomponent hydrocarbon fuel. These emulsion fuels promise significant advantages over base liquid fuels, such as better fuel economy, colder combustion temperatures, less NOx emissions, and so on. However, a significant practical disadvantage of these fuels is that they are prone to phase separation after they have been prepared. Till date, an objective but economical method of identifying the various degrees of phase separation has not been identified. Present research presents such a method and shows its utilization in analyzing the stability of water and hydrocarbon fuel emulsions over time without the addition of chemical stabilizers. It is expected that present research will pave the way in establishing this method to study the stability of other specialized multicomponent fluids.