Rapeseed oil for combustion - practical trials

Abstract

This project was further to work reported as Project Report No OS5.

Rapeseed oil can be fired successfully in conventional heating burners of about 200KW capacity and above. This is the type of burner used in industrial steam boilers and water heaters for large commercial buildings.

Rapeseed oil has been fired successfully in specialised domestic heating burners but only when blended 40:60 with class D fuels such as gas-oil or diesel.

Preliminary trials indicate that a 50:50 mixture of rapeseed oil with a class C fuel such as kerosene (which is more volatile than a class D fuel) should burn successfully in conventional domestic heating burners. The disadvantage is that kerosene is more expensive than class D fuels.

All rapeseed oil burners encounter problems with deposition of unburned oil in on-off cycling trials.

Rapeseed oil will be most successful as a combustion fuel when used in high temperature apparatus such as steam boilers.

There are no significant differences in combustion properties between the samples of rapeseed oil obtained from the three possible sources identified at (c) above.