Abstract
Purpose: With the ever-rising energy prices, thermal energy heavily consuming facilities of the agricultural sector such as commercialized greenhouses and large-scale Rice Processing Complexes (RPCs) need to cut down their energy cost if they must run profitable businesses continually. One possible way to reduce their energy cost is to utilize combustible agricultural by-products or low-price oil instead of light oil as the fuel for their boiler systems. This study aims to analyze the heavy oil combustion characteristics of a newly developed hot water boiler system that can use both rice husk and heavy oil as its fuel convertibly. Methods: Heavy oil combustion experiments were conducted in this study employing four fuel feed rates (7.6, 8.5, 9.5, 11.4 $l/h$) at a combustion furnace vacuum pressure of 500 Pa and with four combustion furnace vacuum pressures (375, 500, 625, 750 Pa) at fuel feed rates of 9.5 and 11.4 $l/h$. Temperatures at five locations inside the combustion furnace and 20 additional locations throughout the whole hot water boiler system were measured to ascertain the combustion characteristics of the heavy oil. From the temperature measurement data, the thermal efficiency of the system was calculated. Flue gas smoke density and concentrations of air-polluting components in the flue gas were also measured by a gas analyzer. Results: As the fuel feed rate or combustion furnace vacuum pressure increased, the average temperature in the combustion furnace decreased but the thermal efficiency of the system showed no distinctive change. On the other hand, the thermal efficiency of the system was inversely proportionally to the vacuum level in the furnace. For all experimental conditions, the thermal efficiency remained in the range of 80.1-89.6%. The CO concentration in the flue gas was negligibly low. The NO and $SO_2$ concentration as well as the smoke density met the legal requirements. Conclusions: Considering the combustion temperature characteristics, thermal efficiency, and flue gas composition, the optimal combustion condition of the system seemed to be either the fuel feed rate of 9.5 $l/h$ with a combustion furnace vacuum pressure of 375 Pa or a fuel feed rate of 11.4 $l/h$ with a furnace vacuum pressure between 500 Pa and 625 Pa.
