ALBERT

Description: Granular tapioca was thermally blended with poly(lactic acid) (PLA). All blends were prepared using a plasti-corder and characterized for tensile properties, thermal properties and morphology. Scanning electron micrographs showed that phase separation occurred, leading to poor tensile properties. Therefore, methylenediphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) was used as an interfacial compatibilizer to improve the mechanical properties of PLA/tapioca blends. The addition of MDI could improve the tensile strength of the blend with 60 wt% tapioca, from 19.8 to 42.6 MPa. In addition, because PLA lacked toughness, acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) was added as a plasticizer to improve the ductility of PLA. A significant decrease in the melting point and glass-transition temperature was observed on the basis of differential scanning calorimetry, which indicated that the PLA structure was not dense after ATBC was added. As such, the brittleness was improved, and the elongation at break was extended to several hundred percent. Therefore, mixing ATBC with PLA/tapioca/MDI blends did exhibit the effect of plasticization and biodegradation. The results also revealed that excessive plasticizer would cause the migration of ATBC and decrease the tensile properties.

Description: Energies, Vol. 10, Pages 1109: Evaporation and Ignition Characteristics of Water Emulsified Diesel under Conventional and Low Temperature Combustion Conditions Energies doi: 10.3390/en10081109 Authors: Zhaowen Wang Shang Wu Yuhan Huang Yulin Chen Shuguo Shi Xiaobei Cheng Ronghua Huang The combination of emulsified diesel and low temperature combustion (LTC) technology has great potential in reducing engine emissions. A visualization study on the spray and combustion characteristics of water emulsified diesel was conducted experimentally in a constant volume chamber under conventional and LTC conditions. The effects of ambient temperature on the evaporation, ignition and combustion characteristics of water emulsified diesel were studied under cold, evaporating and combustion conditions. Experimental results showed that the ambient temperature had little effect on the spray structures, in terms of the liquid core length, the spray shape and the spray area. However, higher ambient temperature slightly reduced the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) of the spray droplets. The auto-ignition delay time increased significantly with the decrease of the ambient temperature. The ignition process always occurred at the entrainment region near the front periphery of the liquid core. This entrainment region was evolved from the early injected fuel droplets which were heated and mixed by the continuous entrainment until the local temperature and equivalence ratio reached the ignition condition. The maximum value of integrated natural flame luminosity (INFL) reduced by 60% when the ambient temperature dropped from 1000 to 800 K, indicating a significant decrease of the soot emissions could be achieved by LTC combustion mode than the conventional diesel engines.