Study of the feasibility of burning neat jatropha oil into a vaporizing burner for household applications

Charcoal is one of the major energy sources for household applications in urban areas of
developing countries. It is often made from natural forest and accelerates forest depletion. The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of jatropha oil for combustion in vaporizing burners. This paper presents laboratory tests on a burner whose nominal output is 7.5kW. The burner had to be modified because of the high viscosity of jatropha oil and for cold start, as the oil flash point is much higher than fuel oil flash point. Pollutants emissions and thermal performances are analyzed for three firing rates. The burner meets EN1 standards at high firing rate. Unburned emissions are higher for middle and low firing rates.