Comparative assessment on gaseous emissions based on different fuels.

Abstract

The demand for energy keeps growing exponentially with the increase in population and industrial activities due to the demand for industrial products. Several energy sources have been explored and are being used in the furnaces using energy recovery options to exploit the untapped energy therein such as waste oil and biogas from organic waste. The fuels that is, heavy fuel oil, waste oil, and biogas used in furnaces were assessed with the help of the gas analyzer whose probe was positioned at the exit of the furnaces to quantify the gaseous emissions as they went through the equipment to the transfer port. The gaseous emissions under consideration included carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide, and unburnt hydrocarbons which are the most emitted gaseous emissions from human activities posing the greatest health and environmental risk. These captured gaseous emissions were analyzed together with the data collected from the interviews, it was noted that these fluctuated about the NEMA limits because of the differences in combustion parameters as well as the chemical and physical properties of the fuels used. Waste oil, a highly viscous fluid requires greater pressure to atomize the fuel to have complete combustion which had it as the worst performing fuel with most of its emissions being over the NEMA limits with only the carbon dioxide levels being within acceptable range. Biogas was the most performing fuel despite its emissions of sulfur dioxide being slightly over the NEMA limits and further research can be done to improve its reliability. HFO came in second with the results indicating the absence of stops in any furnace has lower emissions