Effects of Viscosity and Temperature on Appliance Performance in Residential Oil Combustion

A research program on combustion performance evaluation of Canadian middle distillates was carried out at the Combustion and Carbonization Research Laboratory. The program was initiated in response to the needs of the oil industry as well as the standard writing bodies for better fuel quality specifications. The combined effects of industry's effort to maximize the product yield from a crude barrel and the increasing demand on light distillates created the increased use of lower quality products for heating. In Canada, where an abundance of oil sands bitumen and heavy fuels are available, the use of distillates processed from such unconventional sources presents a practical solution to increasing energy demand and declining conventional resources. The effects of these lower quality products on appliance performance must be examined and technologies developed to ensure safe and efficient utilization of the fuels in existing appliances. The standard writing bodies require such information as well to update the existing specifications as required as the quality of the products and the equipment requirements change from time to time. Data from this program are being used to establish correlations fuel properties and combustion characteristics of various Canadian distillate fuels. This paper describes information that demonstrate the effects of fuel viscosity on particulate emissions generated during the transient operation of a residential oil burner.