An Investigation into the Effect of Hydrodynamic Cavitation on Diesel using Optical Extinction

Lockett, RD, Fatmi, Z, Kuti, O and Price, R (2015) An Investigation into the Effect of Hydrodynamic Cavitation on Diesel using Optical Extinction. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 656. ISSN 1742-6588

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Abstract

A conventional diesel and paraffinic-rich model diesel fuel were subjected to sustained cavitation in a custom-built high-pressure recirculation flow rig. Changes to the spectral extinction coefficient at 405 nm were measured using a simple optical arrangement. The spectral extinction coefficient at 405 nm for the conventional diesel sample was observed to increase to a maximum value and then asymptotically decrease to a steady-state value, while that for the paraffinic-rich model diesel was observed to progressively decrease. It is suggested that this is caused by the sonochemical pyrolysis of mono-aromatics to form primary soot-like carbonaceous particles, which then coagulate to form larger particles, which are then trapped by the filter, leading to a steady-state spectral absorbance.