Comparative assessment of a porous burner using vegetable cooking oil–kerosene fuel blends for thermoelectric and thermophotovoltaic power generation

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental evaluation of combustion-driven thermoelectric (TE) and thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power systems using several blends of vegetable cooking oil–kerosene (VCOK) fuels. The TE and TPV systems were integrated with a porous burner, and the combustion characteristics and system performance were evaluated. Three blends of fuel mixtures were tested: 95%/5% VCO–kerosene (9505 VCOK), 90%/10% VCO–kerosene (9010 VCOK), and 80%/20% VCO–kerosene (8020 VCOK). Experiments were conducted to assess the effects of the fuel–air equivalence ratio on the temperature distributions, emission profiles, electrical power output, and electrical efficiency. For both the TE and TPV systems, the asymmetrical temperature distributions were highly insensitive to the fuel–air equivalence ratio and the fuel blends. The emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) were largely unaffected by the fuel blends. The CO emission exhibited a minimum value at a fuel–air equivalence ratio of 0.60 for the TPV system, and the level of NOx emission gradually decreased with mixture enrichment. It was also observed that the general trend of electrical efficiency tended to be similar for both the TE and TPV systems, and the electrical efficiency markedly improved at a rich fuel–air equivalence ratio.