Emulsion Stability and Combustion Characteristics Glycerol -Water Mixture

• Main Author: Suliana Binti Abu Bakar, Suliana
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2010
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/1171/1/SULIANA.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/1171/
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

The main purpose of this project is to study the emulsion stability of glycerol-water mixture and its combustion characteristics. Glycerol, as by-product from biodiesel production emerges as significant worth chemical that can be converted into high value products or alternative use.The concerned problem statement includes crude glycerol-water emulsion which would most likely separate into 2 or 3 phases after a period of time. Therefore, proper mixing and proportioning of glycerol, water, additive and/or surfactants are very important to create very stable emulsion that is necessary for smooth combustion. The objectives for this work are to study the behavior of interaction and mixing between glycerol, water and additives in various proportions to study the effect of alcohol on combustion characteristics and flame stability of glycerol-water mixture. The methodology of this research project starts with preparation of glycerol-water at specific volume ratio for emulsion stability test. The emulsion stability needs within 24 hours to be observed. Testing on chemical and physical properties such as viscosity measurement and heating value test has been done for before proceed to combustion characteristics or flame stability test. The final stage of glycerol-water mixture testing is the combustion characteristics or flame stability. Alcohol such as ethanol is added to glycerol-water mixture to induce volatility, thereby increasing the ease of combustion. In this research, for emulsion stability, the best ratio of the glycerol-water mixture was found to be 90 ml of glycerol and 10 ml of deionized water because glycerol is already miscible with water, therefore, no surfactant or additive is needed to stabilize the emulsion. For combustion characteristics, the best ratio of glycerol-water mixture was found to be 90 ml of ethanol and 10ml of glycerol. At the end of this project, the objectives are achieved but further research of this project is still ongoing in improvising the method