Experimental investigation of asphaltene effect on heavy fuel oil combustion

Asphaltenes are heavy polycyclic aromatic compounds with embedded heteroatoms and have a significant effect on the physicochemical properties of heavy fuel oil (HFO), which makes HFO very difficult to burn, and leads to the formation of large cenospheres (lightweight, inert, hollow spheres), due to an inefficient burning process. The primary purpose of this work is to experimentally investigate the effect of various asphaltene contents on the combustion of HFO under swirling flame. We test HFO samples with asphaltene concentration of 4, 8 and 24 wt %. This work provides quantitative information about effect of the different asphaltene contents on the viscosity, thermogravimetric, fuel compositions, swirling flame combustion of HFO and its gas emissions including CO, CO2, O2, SO2, NOx and the morphology of solid particles emissions. The results indicate that the high asphaltene content in the fuel is the key factor for the high viscosity and would also increase the density of the fuel sample, which affect the spray characteristics and induce incomplete combustion. The reduction in the asphaltene content in HFO will improve the combustion performance, and reduce the emissions containing metal elements such as V, which will avoid hot corrosion on the surface of the burner.