Abstract
The molecular structure of mixed hydrous and anhydrous ethanol with up to 10% v n-heptane had been studied. The burning velocity was examined in a cylindrical explosion combustion chamber. The result showed that the burning velocity of hydrous ethanol is higher than anhydrous ethanol and n-heptane at stoichiometric, rich, and very rich mixtures. The burning velocity of hydrous ethanol with n-heptane drops drastically compared to the burning velocity of anhydrous ethanol with n-heptane. It is caused by two reasons. Firstly, there was a composition change of azeotropic hydrous ethanol molecules within the mixture of fuel. Secondly, at the same volume the number of ethanol molecules in hydrous ethanol was less than in anhydrous ethanol at the same composition of the n-heptane in the mixture. At the mixture of anhydrous ethanol with n-heptane, the burning velocity decreases proportionally to the addition of the n-heptane composition. The burning velocity is between the velocities of anhydrous ethanol and n-heptane. It shows that the burning velocity of anhydrous ethanol mixed with n-heptane is only influenced by the mixture composition.
Highlights
Combustion is the best way to obtain large amounts of energy in a short time
Laminar burning velocity of hydrous and anhydrous ethanol and their respective mixture with n-heptane had been measured from flame images at any equivalence ratio (φ), fuel heating value, and adiabatic flame temperature in which all of them were affected by the addition of n-heptane and water content of the fuel
Low Heating Value (LHV) of hydrous ethanol was determined based on the water content in the ethanol
Summary
Combustion is the best way to obtain large amounts of energy in a short time. Burning velocity is the most important parameter in the fuel combustion process, of either external or internal combustion engines. The burning velocity is influenced by several factors like fuel, air fuel ratio, and onset combustion pressure and temperature. Hydrous ethanol (4.0–4.9% v of water) is intensively developed as fuel due to its characteristics like being renewable, having low NOx emission, increasing engine working pressures, and reducing production cost [1,2,3,4]. In Brazil, FlexFuel vehicles that can be operated with 100% hydrous ethanol have been in the market since 2003. Ethanol can be used separately as fuel or combined with gasoline as the octane enhancer and oxygenate
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