Study of combustion in residential oil burning equipment of animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption

This article studies the use of animal by-products and derived products not intended for humans as possible fuels in residential oil burning facilities. We first offer a chemical and physical description of the various types of animal byproducts and derived products not intended for humans with a view to their possible use as fuels. Animal by-products and derived products not intended for humans have an extremely high viscosity for the pressure pulverisation burners used in residential oil burning equipment. We therefore mixed diesel with animal by-products and other derived products not intended for humans in different percentages so as to obtain suitable viscosity. To achieve this, we carried out a study of the miscibility of animal by-products in diesel. We subsequently performed a series of combustion experiments for mixtures of diesel and animal by-products, in varying (a) percentage of by-products in diesel, (b) injection pressure and (c) excess air in combustion. We analysed the experimental combustion results based on (a) energy efficiency of combustion, (b) CO and NOx emissions and (c) fossil-based greenhouse effect gases. Finally, we present the conclusions that combustion of mixed diesel with animal by-products and other derived products not intended for humans for use as boiler fuel low power does not require specific technology when using a conventional fuel oil burner for proper combustion. One only needs to adjust the burner factors: pressure and air flow. In the study of the combustion of mixtures, once the burner factor is adjusted, it appears that the combustion efficiency and greenhouse gas and emission gases are acceptable. The costs of removing fat through incineration or landfill range from 34 to 59 €/ton. The solution proposed in this work not only avoided the cost but also mentioned the value of residue use as fuel. © 2013 Alonso et al.