EMULSIFIED BIOFUEL PRODUCTION USING TWO IMPINGING FLOW MICRO-SYSTEMS ARRANGED IN SERIES

Development of alternative fuels and improvement of their combustion is a necessity in a general context of scarcity of fossilenergy resources and of environmental pollution. In particular, the use of water dispersed in biofuels is known to improvecombustion quality of diesel engine and to reduce pollution in gas emissions. This work aims at contributing in the developmentof a compact continuous emulsifier that could be used to feed energy systems. In order to fulfil requests such as convenientsize of water droplets, absence of surfactant and needed flow rates of biofuel, the association of two micro-systems in seriesis investigated and compared to the use of a single one. The comparison of the emulsions obtained by the different systems ismade in terms of mean size and size distribution of the water droplets in the dispersion, and process energy consumption. Inthe absence of surfactant, depending on applied flow-rates and water fraction, the use of two micro-systems in series allowsto reduce the mean size of droplets by a factor 2 to about 3. Flow phenomena which lead to water phase fragmentation aredescribed thanks to high-speed visualization of the flows in the micro-channels.