- #1
Majorana
- 60
- 36
- TL;DR Summary
- Aim: to design a small burner for vegetable oils which does not produce any soot (or VERY little of it).
Hello ![Smile :oldsmile: :oldsmile:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/smile.gif)
I need to design a little burner, fed with vegetable oils like olive, soybean, sunflower and corn (alone or as a mixture).
The fundamental requisite of the burner is that it must not generate any soot (smoke): since "zero" is something hardly attainable in technology, "very little" can be an acceptable substitute![Big Grin :oldbiggrin: :oldbiggrin:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/biggrin.gif)
Power output should be in the range 600-800 W approximately.
It should not contain any electrical fuel pump: it must be either gravity- or capillarity-fed. The wick(s), if any, must be non-consuming.
In theory, as I could understand (I am no chemical engineer), there are two ways to burn a fuel with little or no output soot: 1-by an intrinsically soot-free combustion (smokeless flame), or 2-removing in some way the soot generated by a "conventional" flame.
Recently I learned that the problem of attaining a smokeless flame is anything but trivial:
![Eek :oldeek: :oldeek:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/eek.gif)
Looks like somebody found the question to be DEFINITELY interesting...![Approve :approve: :approve:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/approve.gif)
Okay, I don't want to invent Capt. Kirk's antigravity in order to burn olive oil soot-free on Earth
Jokes apart, the first thing that comes to my mind is an electrostatic precipitator of some design (there are quite a few) following a conventional flame on non-consuming wick(s). But the plates of any electrostatic precipitator need to be cleaned periodically. Big installations in industrial chimneys are cleaned automatically by means of high-pressure water, a solution that is ruled out here, for obvious reasons.
Any ideas?...![WWFD :eynman: :eynman:](/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/signs/feynman.png)
![Smile :oldsmile: :oldsmile:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/smile.gif)
I need to design a little burner, fed with vegetable oils like olive, soybean, sunflower and corn (alone or as a mixture).
The fundamental requisite of the burner is that it must not generate any soot (smoke): since "zero" is something hardly attainable in technology, "very little" can be an acceptable substitute
![Big Grin :oldbiggrin: :oldbiggrin:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/biggrin.gif)
Power output should be in the range 600-800 W approximately.
It should not contain any electrical fuel pump: it must be either gravity- or capillarity-fed. The wick(s), if any, must be non-consuming.
In theory, as I could understand (I am no chemical engineer), there are two ways to burn a fuel with little or no output soot: 1-by an intrinsically soot-free combustion (smokeless flame), or 2-removing in some way the soot generated by a "conventional" flame.
Recently I learned that the problem of attaining a smokeless flame is anything but trivial:
On board the International Space Station (ISS), astronaut Christina Koch is lighting candles to help scientists back on Earth resolve the long-standing question of why flames in microgravity produce less soot.
![Bug Eye :bugeye: :bugeye:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/bugeye.gif)
![Eek :oldeek: :oldeek:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/eek.gif)
Looks like somebody found the question to be DEFINITELY interesting...
![Approve :approve: :approve:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/approve.gif)
Okay, I don't want to invent Capt. Kirk's antigravity in order to burn olive oil soot-free on Earth
![Big Grin :oldbiggrin: :oldbiggrin:](https://www.physicsforums.com/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/oldschool/biggrin.gif)
Jokes apart, the first thing that comes to my mind is an electrostatic precipitator of some design (there are quite a few) following a conventional flame on non-consuming wick(s). But the plates of any electrostatic precipitator need to be cleaned periodically. Big installations in industrial chimneys are cleaned automatically by means of high-pressure water, a solution that is ruled out here, for obvious reasons.
Any ideas?...
![WWFD :eynman: :eynman:](/styles/physicsforums/xenforo/smilies/signs/feynman.png)