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In a fuel supply system of a conventional household oil heating system the fuel degrades over time depending on the system temperature, the tank volume and the flow rates. The test fuel is a blend of 80 vol.% conventional domestic heating oil and 20 vol.% fatty acid methyl ester from rapeseed oil feedstock. The fuel will increase the deposits in the fuel supply which lead to system failures. In this paper a model based approach is introduced for the analysis of accelerated life testings. The impact of the tank volume on the failure time is analyzed. A well balanced physical model is set up for stochastic simulation. The model contains short term dynamic and long term transient degradation effects that have an important impact on the system reliability. The degradation effects of the components and the used fuel cause a system failure over time. A system failure is detected when the volume flow of the fuel supply declines. The analysis shows that the typical variances of characteristic parameters lead to a significant distribution of failure time. Furthermore, the functional relation between tank volume as stress factor and failure time is described.

Biomass to energy conversion is an important action to reach sustainability, particularly on the small scale. Among different biomasses, however, vegetable oils can fire directly a compression ignited internal combustion engine with minimal pre-treatment of the fuel and adaptation of the engine. Energy production from waste cooking oils is even more interesting because it allows energy production while disposing of a residue. Data available in the Literature are rarely referring to commercially available engines therefore additional information is required on overall performance, emissions, and maintenance requirements. This paper presents the results of tests carried out by fuelling a commercially available 33 kW direct injection Diesel engine with different fuels, such as: Diesel (used as benchmark), biodiesel, linseed oil, RBDPO (Refined, Bleached and Deodorized Palm Oil), corn oil, soy oil, peanuts oil, sunflower oil, palm oil, waste frying sunflower oil and waste frying palm oil. Tests were performed at three different loads (10, 20, 30 kW) measuring fuel consumption, electricity production and exhaust gases temperature and composition. Fuel injectors were checked following each test to evaluate the fouling caused by different fuels. Results show that when increasing load fuel consumption shows a general decreasing trend while CO emissions decrease and NO X increase. All fuels show a higher consumption than diesel, due to a lower calorific value. Biodiesel CO emissions decrease with power increasing with a lower slope than diesel, therefore are lower at the lowest power and higher at the highest power. Biodiesel NO emissions are always 15–20% higher than diesel. Vegetable oil CO emissions are higher or lower than diesel ones depending on the power and on the fuel, while NO emissions are often higher than diesel ones. Specific fuel consumption, CO and NO emissions of waste frying vegetable oil are generally comparable to those of pure oils.

Fish derived bio-oils have similar properties to petroleum-derived fuel oils and therefore the potential to be an alternative energy source. The quality of bio-oil as a fuel is determined by the quality of the feedstock and processing conditions. Fish oil may have poor cold flow properties due to the heterogeneity of the lipid composition. Different oil extraction methods produce different levels of homogeneity with respect to lipids. In this study, oil was extracted from fish waste via three different processes; modified fishmeal (MFM), supercritical extraction using carbon dioxide (SC-CO 2 ), and soxhlet extraction. The quality of oil extracted (composition, thermal degradation, physicochemical, and flow properties) were compared. The SC-CO 2 extracted 91% and the MFM extracted 71% of the total oil contained in the fish waste. The SC-CO 2 oil is more than 86 wt% triglycerides, representing a more homogeneous oil than the MFM at 70 wt% and soxhlet at 66 wt%. The free fatty acid (FFA) of SC-CO 2 oil is lower than MFM and soxhlet oil, making it a better feedstock for biodiesel production. Polar lipids were most abundant in the soxhlet oil at 22.98 wt%, followed by the MFM oil at 18.35 wt% and SC-CO 2 oil at 7.39 wt%. The MFM oil exhibited a shear-thinning non-Newtonian behavior, while the SC-CO 2 oil was Newtonian. Overall, the oil from SC-CO 2 showed better fuel properties, particularly as a blend and/or replacement for heating oil, than the MFM and soxhlet oil and the process has the potential for a lower environmental footprint.

The thermal, flow, and heating properties of unrefined fish oils (anchovy–sardine oil derived from fish processing waste, and unrefined salmon oil derived from salmon discards) blended with bunker ‘A’ oil (a common heating oil) were investigated. The rheological properties of the blends were examined and modeled using an Arrhenius equation approach. The onset of thermal degradation of waste fish oil, salmon oil and bunker ‘A’ oil were 187 °C, 229 °C and 75 °C respectively and complete decomposition of the oils occurred between 500 and 550 °C. The flow behavior index of the oil/blend samples was less than one, which indicated that the fish oil/blend exhibited non-Newtonian fluid behavior. More so, all samples showed decreasing viscosity with increasing shear rate indicated that the samples and their blends exhibited a shear-thinning non-Newtonian behavior. The average heating value of anchovy–sardine oil, unrefined salmon oil and bunker fuel oil were 38.69, 39.51 and 43.36 MJ kg −1 respectively. The energy barrier to flow and viscosity of the blends decreased with increasing quantity of fish oils in fish-bunker mixture.

To raise the share of renewable energies in the domestic heating market, the use of bio heating oil becomes increasingly important and popular. Considering the German heating market, bio heating oil blended with 10% biodiesel is already available. The affinity of biodiesel to forming oxidation products requires fast and reliable measuring methods which cannot be covered with conventional methods such as the Rancimat method according to DIN EN 15751. Therefore, a new measuring technique is introduced in this work, where oxidation products from heating oil blended with 10% biodiesel (HO B10) and for comparative purposes neat heating oil (HO B0) were investigated by dielectric spectroscopy. The results were verified by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and by measuring of the total acid number (TAN). The alteration of dielectric parameters during the accelerated aging is used to determine the oxidation stability.

The present study aims at utilising an inorganic industrial by-product, high calcium fly ash (HCFA), in an environmental field: oil spill clean up. Properties, such as fine particle size, floating ability, hydrophobic character and porosity, make this material attractive for such a use. In order to investigate the oil sorption behaviour of HCFA an oil spill has been simulated, by using artificial ocean water and three types of oil (heating oil (HO), light cycle oil (LCO) and Iranian light crude oil (ILCO)). Two HCFA samples, a Ca-rich one (AD) and a Si-rich one (M), have been examined, so as to investigate the role of HCFA composition in its behaviour. The addition of HCFA to an oil spill results in the formation of a semi-solid oil–HCFA phase, allowing the quite total removal of oil from the water surface. HCFA’s oil sorption capacity in dry environment after 24 h is 0.7–0.9 g oil/g HCFA for AD and 0.5–0.6 g oil/g HCFA for M. HCFA’s behaviour, when added to an oil spill, necessitates the amelioration of its floating ability and affinity for oil and to this direction its hydrothermal treatment in an aqueous solution of sodium oleate (SO) under several conditions (time, temperature, HCFA:SO mass ratio, SO solution concentration, solution:HCFA ratio) has been applied. The treatment of the calcareous HCFA (AD) at 25 °C at a mass ratio HCFA:SO = 1:0.004 results in the formation of a cohesive semi-solid oil–HCFA phase, allowing the total removal of oil from the water surface, while the siliceous HCFA (M) requires a greater amount of SO (HCFA:SO = 1:0.5). The oil sorption behaviour of both HCFA and SO-modified HCFA seems to be related to the initial CaO content. During the treatment with SO, CaO is converted to calcite and calcium oleate, which contributes to the improvement of HCFA’s floating ability, due to its greater affinity for oil.

Degummed soybean heating oil (SHO) is a renewable energy resource, which can reduce dependence on foreign oil and create a new market for the soybean industry. This study demonstrated that SHO 20 (20% degummed soybean oil and 80% No. 2 fuel oil) is suitable for application in residential furnaces without modification. The tests conducted were: fuel properties, seal compatibility, long-term storage, and laboratory and field combustion. The physical property tests showed that the kinematic viscosity (0.0346 cm

Combustion tests for fish oil and its blends with fuel oils were performed in a pilot tunnel furnace and two residential boilers to evaluate fish oil as an alternative fuel for conventional boilers and furnaces. Droplet evaporation tests were also conducted as a complementary study of the combustion properties. Fish oil and the blends burned readily in the facilities. The emissions were generally lower than burning the pure fuel oil except that of NO, which was higher for blends with No. 6 residual fuel oil. With better quality No. 2 fuel oil the NO emission of the blends was at the same level as that of the pure oil. Overall fish oil showed good combustion properties and significant economic and environmental benefits are expected.

Biomass is an often abundant, renewable, low ash and low sulfur fuel. Due to these properties, biofuels are promising alternatives for traditional petroleum-based fuel applications; however, traditional biofuels for internal combustion engines are not cost competitive with gasoline, diesel or fuel oils. One method to reduce the cost of biofuels is to use slurry fuels which have a potential lower cost than liquid biofuels due to high conversion efficiencies. Slurry biofuels, such as a mixture of corn and water, could provide a biofuel alternative for diesel engines, pressurized gasifiers and heating oil applications such as burners or gas turbines. Use of these biomass slurries poses important questions about their stability and suitability for practical applications in internal combustion engines and combustors. This work reports rheology data for stable corn-starch water slurries (CSWS) which used a polyacrylic acid thickener to eliminate settling of the slurry and to provide desirable shear-thinning behavior for most of the compositions evaluated. The effect of shear rate on the viscosity of the CSWS was studied using a BOHLIN-controlled stress (CS) rheometer. The well-known Ostwald—de Waele power law and Sisko models for viscosity fit the data. The effect of corn starch content, thickener content and temperature on the viscosity of CSWS was also studied. The favorable shear thinning properties were observed for starch contents up to 45% starch and should aid pumping, injection and spraying. The lower heating values of the slurries, however, are undesirably low.

The combustion characteristics of six middle distillate oil blends were examined using the controlled combustion testing facilities at the Energy Research Laboratories of the Canada Centre for Minerals and Energy Technologies (CANMET). Test fuels were specifically prepared for a research project to study the impact of changes in commercial heating fuel composition on the combustion performance of a residential heating appliance. Compositional formulation was modified in such a way that the fuel properties still met Canadian national heating fuel specifications. The experimental combustion conditions were set to reflect possible poor operating situations found in the field and to accelerate the emissions data acquisition process. The results from this combustion study indicate that performance deteriorated with a decrease in the fuel hydrogen-carbon ratio, which relates to the decreasing ratio of aliphatic, saturated hydrocarbon to aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations. When concentrations of high boiling, high molecular weight aromatic hydrocarbons are increased, while simultaneously reducing those of low molecular weight hydrocarbons, other fuel properties, such as flash point, distillation range, density and viscosity are altered. These compositional changes resulted in poorer burner performance characteristics and higher pollution emissions. Video recordings of the combustion experiments revealed progressive degradation of transient flame characteristics as the fuel reformulation changed from moderate to severe. Performance degradation was more pronounced at 7°C, significantly colder than the normal operating temperature range of a residential heating appliance. The effects of hydrocarbon compositional changes in distillate heating fuels on combustion performance, especially in terms of increased aromatics concentrations, were discussed.