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Effect of carbon-based nanoparticles on the ignition, combustion and flame characteristics of crude oil droplets
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Effect of carbon-based nanoparticles on the ignition, combustion and flame characteristics of crude oil droplets

Gurjap Singh, Mehdi Esmaeilpour and Albert Ratner
Energy (Oxford), Vol.197, p.117227
04/15/2020
DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.117227
url
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.12135View
Open Access

Abstract

The use of in-situ burning (ISB) as a clean-up response in the event of an oil spill has generated controversy because of unburned hydrocarbons and products of incomplete combustion left behind on an ISB site. These substances threaten marine life, both in the ocean and on the ocean floor. Treating crude oil as a multicomponent liquid fuel, this manuscript investigates the effect of carbon-based nanomaterials, acetylene black (AB) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT), on the combustion and flame characteristics of crude sourced from the Bakken formation (ND, USA). Sub-millimeter droplets of colloidal suspensions of Bakken crude and nanomaterials at various particle loadings were burned, and the process was captured with CMOS and CCD cameras. The resulting images were post-processed to generate burning rate, ignition delay, total combustion time, and flame stand-off (FSR) ratio data for the various crude suspensions. A maximum combustion rate enhancement of 39.5% and 31.1% was observed at a particle loading of 0.5% w/w acetylene black nanoparticles and 0.5% w/w multi-walled carbon nanotubes, respectively. Generally, FSR for pure Bakken was noted as larger than for Bakken with nanoparticle additives. These results are expected to spur further investigations into the use of nanomaterials for ISB crude oil clean-ups. •Carbon-based nanomaterials mixed into Bakken crude oil at various particle loadings.•Spherical sub-millimeter droplets burned using well-validated experimental setup.•Burning rate, ignition delay, total combustion time, flame standoff ratio compared.•Large increase in burning rate observed at small nanomaterial particle loadings.•Results expected to increase in-situ burning effectiveness as oil spill response.
Acetylene black Bakken Carbon nanoparticle Carbon nanotube Colloidal suspension Crude oil Droplet combustion In situ burning

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