Performance investigation of Fischer–Tropsch kerosene blends in a laboratory-scale premixed flame burner

The increasing use of synthetic fuels, such as Fischer–Tropsch (FT), in transportation, requires an accurate, in-depth knowledge of their fundamental combustion characteristics. However, synthetic fuels, being complex hydrocarbon mixtures, have not been standardized in terms of physical and thermochemical properties and are mostly treated by adapting appropriate surrogate mixtures. Surrogate mixture determination does not always take into account detailed fuel composition and this can lead to inaccurate prediction of fundamental fuel properties, such as molecular weight and heat of formation. In this direction, the present work presents a systematic approach for characterizing similar FT blends and assessing their performance in a simple configuration. A methodology based on the detailed composition of each examined blend is followed here, providing accurate estimates of the above fuel properties. The determined heating values are used in temperature and emission measurements of several flames of FT fuels stabilized in a laboratory-scale premixed burner. A total of six fuels are assessed: a neat, paraffinic FT blend, four FT blends with varying aromatic and naphthenic content and a pure n-decane.

► Temperature and emission measurements of Fischer–Tropsch (FT) fuels.
► Laminar premixed flames stabilized on a laboratory scale burner.
► FT blends with systematically varying aromatic and naphthenic content.
► Key thermochemical properties obtained from detailed composition of mixture.