iker42

Hey guys!!!Me and a few buddys at school have decided to make and test Bio-diesel for our MANDITORY Science fair project...Were probably gonna test it first in our 20hp Mitusbish diesel tractor...then the 2500 CTD...We were wondering how we could "test" the diesel...

We were thinking of Testing

1. 5 galons Of On road Disel
2. 5 Gallons of offroad
3. 5 of Bio
4. 2.5 of kero and 2.5 reg diesel

Any Ideas on how we can me it all the way on thsis project???


Mike

taildragger

What do you mean by "test" your biodiesel? What information are you trying to find?

Scrambler250

Depends on what you mean by 'test'. You could get a reddy type torpedo heater that's designed to run on multiple fuels if you just want to see if it'll burn. You could also get a rough guess of the BTU's by comparing how red the cone gets with different fuels. And a freezer is a good way to roughly test the cloud and gel points. You may be able to contact a local fuel supplier that has a lab and have more scientific studies done. Being a school project you might also be able to get a good price.

iker42

I think I'll try that..By test i mean, show how well the fuel works

Mike

newriverSpecon

You can get four of the suciton blow nozzles and put one in each fuel. Then have your "favorite" four teachers stand in front of each of them and see which works better.

Actually if you did that in a safe manner with the area dampened (no teachers) with constant pressures you could estimate relitive energy content, flash points, ect... Don't forget to video it all.

Randy

iker42

How can I do that?

newriverSpecon

FIRST - USE VERY SMALL VOLUMES OF FUEL!!! Basiclly you can blast it past an ignition source using the nozzles and compare the size, shape, time, ect.. of the flames. Use a video camera from a 90 degree angle so you can compare it later on and it adds a visual aid for the class.

Think about it like this. You have a can of WD-40, starting fluid, and carb cleaner. You spray each one past a lighter and go wow. You'll be able to tell the RELITIVE features of the chem.

Just don't hold the ligter in your hand if you do it. Make sure nothing flamableis near (like the containers of fuels or houses). Take absolute maximum safety precautions. Hmm, now I am thinking about that gravity question you had. Hmmm.

Randy

taildragger

How is that going to tell you anything about BTU (relative or not) and the flash point? It seems like it would be cool and you could probly bs your way into an answer. Flame colour shouldn't be a real indicator of the relative energy of the system, oxyen content and other chemicals can change the colour of a flame (thats why you sometimes see yellow alcohol flames instead of blue).

An easy way to test the btu's of the say bio, #1 and #2 diesel would be to make a coffe cup bomb calirometer (just google it and you should come up with some simple designs and the math required to figure out the energy yield). Although this would be a better comparison of the fuels, it wouldn't be nearly as cool as the nozzle flame thrower.

newriverSpecon

You can tell how something burns by watching the flame pattern. How fast the flame travels to it's max size. How it burns relitive to the spray patteren. With that and a few other things, IF all other things are equal (pressure in the nozzle, air temp, fuel temp, wind, ect) it will yeild a relitive result. The chemical make up (and how it effects the fuel) of the fuel is what your trying to observe.

Randy

PS: This is not as safe as some other methods but, It has lots of flare . (much more then 36 pieces)