Riello 40 F5 and B100 biodiesel

[curdy]

Hi everyone, new guy to the site here. Found it while searching for info on my burner. Looks like there are several people on here that know a good bit about them! I need some help with running my burner on B100.

Vitals:
Burnham V8 Boiler
Riello 40 F5 Burner

In a nut shell, I want to run on B100 and right now, it won't fire on it. I started to experiment and tried B90. That did ignite and kept the burner
going...but it sputtered. B80 sputtered less and B70 seemed to have minimal if any sputtering, so I went with that. I had someone else suggest to increase the pressure. I'm not 100% sure how to do that, but I'm hoping someone here does...that is of course if that's what I need to do.

My understanding is that Riello sells a B100 compatible seal kit...but not in the US. I'll obviously need that at some point...where should I get it? Also I believe there is a high pressure pump I can get...but may also not be available in the US?

Thanks in advance for any help!

My biodiesel processor:

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x270/dmmccurdy/BD/IMG_3840.jpg

 

[WDIK]

to be honest here in britain bio-diesel used as fuel oil is quite rare.
and Ive never seen your boiler over here.
however what you need to be looking at is the thru put for the boiler, ie its input rating,
1gall/us @100psi will give you 100,000btu/hr.
thats fo 35sec gas oil.
you need to know the calorific value of this B100?

with that in mind, there are nozzle to pressure calculation charts, showing the comparative btu thru puts for various sized nozzles @ various pressures.

what you need to be doing is getting the thru put @ the higher end of the pressure, commonly gas oil burners running @ 200-300psi.
this will ensure good atomisation, which one problem i suspect causing the spluttering.

when you sort out the basics, then you will need a good combustion engineer to set up and commision the burner, and i dont mean a numpty with a flue gas analyzer.

as for the seals, I dont know any reason why they should have to be changed.

 

[Tipper]

Hi, In the UK almost all domestic and light industrial heating uses 28sec oil which is kerosene. I assume you normally use 35sec oil, ie gas oil/diesel. The main difference particularly in winter is the fitting of burner nozzle/ pump/piping heating to reduce the oil viscosity.

However other countries in Europe also use 35sec oil so there must be loads of experience out there. I know France do. Riello is Italian so they must know what you need and the best settings to try.

Give their customer service guys an email and see if they can advise.

BTW what are the differences in the biofuels you quoted, B100, B80, etc in terms of viscosity? If you get the viscosity the same then it should work except for air/fuel ratio. I assume the name is something to do with the ratio/percentage bio oil?

Search for Danfoss burner nozzle info that site gets you to loads of useful burner/nozzle type info.

 

[curdy]

WDIK & Tipper,

Thanks so much for the quick replies. I will look into some of this and report back. A couple of answers to your questions though...

Calorific value...I've heard the term before, but never used it. I did find this though:


The calorific value of biodiesel is about 37.27 MJ/L. (About 9% less than petro diesel)
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file18160.pdf


BioDiesel's BTU rating is just slightly less than petro diesel.
http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/BTU_Content_Final_Oct2005.pdf


Tipper, yes you are correct regarding the numbers representing the ratios. B100 = 100% biodiesel, B90 = 90%, etc.

The cloud and gel point can vary for biodiesel depending on the feedstock. With my feedstock, the viscosity of the B100 should be the same as petro based diesel/heating oil at the temperatures I'll be working with (the oil tank is indoors).


*The flash point of biodiesel (>130 °C, >266 °F) is significantly higher
than that of petroleum diesel (64 °C, 147 °F)
http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/MSDS.pdf


Regarding the seals and gaskets...biodiesel eats away at natural rubber. So if there's any on the burner that will be in contact with the fuel, it will eventually fail. Viton seals are the way to go. The burner is only 2-3 years old, so I want to assume its compatible, but I always say: 'assumptions are the mother of all f - ups'.


I took a sample of the same B70 currently running in the Riello and ran in my multi-fuel torpedo heater. I figured since it is more open I could see the flame better and analyze it some. It runs on the same concept of a nozzle and atomization...only difference being that this runs off of hot surface ignition as opposed to an electrical arc. It ran well but smoked some when turned off. I know the pressure setting on this needs to be adjusted because it changed by accident. I'm assuming there's some fuel not be atomized enough and collecting in there? Still, it didn't sputter like the Riello. Similar cause with different different results...or different causes?

 

[Tipper]

Have a look at this:

http://burner.danfoss.com/dila/dkbdps000a202.pdf

Gives info and outputs of burner nozzles, etc.

The nozzle pattern, solid cone or hollow cone, are used to give control over flame size and shape. Also give nozzle outputs/pressure information.

You really need a pressure gauge and combustion meter to set them up.

 

[WDIK]

give me the output and I will give you a solution based on the info, incidently Ive been doing this for 30yrs, commercially, rather than domestic.