Experimental investigation on the droplet burning behavior of diesel-palm biodiesel blends

Diesel-palm biodiesel blend could be an attractive fuel for diesel vehicles owing to its better physicochemical properties compared to those of fossil diesel. This study comprehensively investigates the combustion behavior of diesel droplet blended with palm biodiesel at 20% v/v, 40% v/v, and 60% v/v (i.e., B20, B40, and B60, respectively). Droplet combustion experimental results show that the B60 and palm biodiesel droplets exhibit a more prominent blue flame and less sooty flame compared to diesel droplet. Compared to those of diesel droplet, the ignition delay and burn-rate constant for B60 droplet increase by 27.0 and 56.3%, respectively, whereas, the burning duration of B60 droplet decreases significantly by 17.7%. Overall, this study suggests that B60 could be an effective fuel for improving the combustion and emission characteristics of diesel engines and has the potential to be utilized for other combustion-related applications.