167932 20260122172506.0 doi 10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2020.110076 sideral 116495 ART-2020-116495 eng Muelas, A. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0003-1337-0310 Combustion of crude glycerol and its blends with acetals 2020 In spite of its relevance, the prospective energetic valorization of crude glycerol (CG), a major by-product of biodiesel production, remains nowadays unfulfilled in the industry because of the significant challenges posed by its combustion properties. Besides some basic post-treatments such as desalting (to obtain desalted crude glycerol, DG), its blending with other industrial by-products could improve crude glycerol properties, while maintaining the renewable nature of the fuel. A secondary product obtained from the FAGE process, consisting in a mixture of acetals named GF*, has been proposed in this work as a suitable fuel for this purpose. The combustion characteristics of these by-products have been tested along with different CG-GF* and DG-GF* blends by employing single droplet combustion experiments and semi-industrial furnace tests. Single droplet results point to widely different behaviors between GF* and the glycerols, the latter displaying much lower burning rates and violent microexplosions ascribed to salt content as well as to the broad differences in their constituent''s boiling points. Relevant differences were noted between DG and CG modes of microexplosion, presumably due to the lower salt content of the former. Both CG-GF* and DG-GF* mixtures presented similar behaviors to CG, although with a noticeably faster conversion. The furnace tests revealed that GF* addition widened the range of stable conditions in the burner, significantly improving flame stability and reducing CO emissions. NOx emissions slightly increased, although they could be reduced through burner aerodynamics optimization, facilitated by the improvement in flame stability. The reported results support the potential use of GF* as auxiliary fuel for enhancing the combustion behaviors of crude glycerol. © 2020 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by-nc-nd https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.es 3.232 2020 PHYSICS, FLUIDS & PLASMAS 7 / 34 = 0.206 2020 Q1 T1 THERMODYNAMICS 20 / 60 = 0.333 2020 Q2 T2 ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL 43 / 133 = 0.323 2020 Q2 T1 1.306 2020 Aerospace Engineering 2020 Q1 Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous) 2020 Q1 Nuclear Energy and Engineering 2020 Q1 Mechanical Engineering 2020 Q1 Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes 2020 Q1 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion Remacha, P. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0001-9446-8461 Pina, A. Barroso, J. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-0063-1318 Sobrino, A. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0001-9135-1196 Aranda, D. Bayarri, N. Estévez, C. Ballester, J. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0003-2863-4681 5001 600 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Ciencia Tecnol.Mater.Fl. Área Mecánica de Fluidos 114 (2020), 110076 [11 pp.] Exp. therm. fluid sci. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 0894-1777 2249455 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/167932/files/texto_completo.pdf Postprint 2037573 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/167932/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Postprint oai:zaguan.unizar.es:167932 articulos driver 2026-01-22-16:07:10 ARTICLE