Characteristics and performance of Canadian residential heating fuels

✍ Scribed by S.Win Lee

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 601 KB
• Volume: 71
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-2361(92)90247-l

✦ Synopsis

The quality and combustion performance of ten commercial no. 2 fuel oils for residential heating in central Canada were evaluated. All the fuels generally meet the Canadian national specifications for quality, except for one whose final boiling point slightly exceeds the upper limit. Burner ignition performance from cold, performance during steady-state and warm cyclic operations, and flame characteristics of the fuels are comparable. Overall, combustion performance is acceptable for residential heating, but pollution emissions vary slightly between the fuels. The small number of samples does not permit definitive conclusions on the effects of fuel quality on combustion characteristics, but increased aromatics content, viscosity and carbon residue result in increased particulate emissions. Two blends of distillates from oil-sands-bitumenderived synthetic crude show comparable combustion performance to other commercial fuels from conventional sources. The data serve as average baseline data of commercial no. 2 fuels and are useful in combustion evaluation of off-specification and research fuels.