Abstract:
Waste oil is a major output from lubrication process and there is a need to establish
safe mechanisms of disposal of this hazardous waste to protect the environment from
pollution. This research, therefore, focuses on supplementing energy demand through
waste oil combustion as well as minimizing waste oil disposal problems.
An oil red burner was designed, fabricated and its performance analyzed. The main
aim of this burner was to burn waste lubrication oil (WLO), with less emissions, to
generate process heat for utilization in Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well
as o er its safer disposal solution. Air and fuel
ow regulators were incorporated to
control reactants'
ow during combustion and investigate reactants
ow regulation in
uence
on emission levels as well as optimize combustion and heat generation. Results
from this study showed that there was a reduction in carbon monoxide (CO) and unburnt
hydrocarbons (UHC) concentration with increasing excess air. CO reduction
was attributed to the fact that excess air enhanced formation of more oxygen radicals
during chain initiation process which enabled conversion of more CO formed during
chain branching process to CO
. UHC emission reduction was as a result of more
oxygen oxidizing fuel and therefore more fuel converted to combustion by-products of
CO
2
and H
2
2
O. The low emissions concentration, high calori c value of WLO and high
ame temperatures achieved con rmed that combustion of WLO is able to supplement
energy demand and at the same time o er safe disposal solution.
This research work can be applied in industrial boilers, heating process water in restau-
rants and hotels as well as heating in workshops. It also avails data and standards that
can be utilized successfully in the design of real systems.
