A preliminary study of moving droplet combustion of biodiesel (B20) in a microgravity environment

Abstract

The characteristics of B20 biodiesel droplet combustion on flame propagation rate at microgravity conditions are fascinating to study. The observation of Biodiesel B20 fuel was chosen because it supports the Indonesian government policy on the use of alternative energy. This research is an initial stage to determine the effect of variations in the speed of motion of biodiesel B20 droplets on the flame propagation distance. At this initial stage, the droplet velocity is set at 5 mm / s. There are three droplets used, namely droplet A (igniter droplet), droplet B (flame source droplet), and droplet C (observation droplet). Each droplet has a diameter of 1 mm. Data was collected directly through video analysis to determine the propagation distance of SBC/d0. The results showed that the investigative droplet (C), which was 3 mm from droplet B, had a maximum burnt distance of SBC/d0 = 4 - 4.2.