Testing The Performance Of a Burner and a High Temperature Continuous Flow Grain Dryer Using Diesel-Oil and Biodiesel

DIEGO DE LA TORRE; RICARDO BARTOSIK; JUAN RODRIGUEZ; DIRK MAIER

Chicago, Illinois, EEUU

Congreso; International Grain Quality and Technology Congress; 2008

In Argentina, between 5 and 10% of the high temperature continuous flow grain dryers remain using diesel-oil. During the harvest time there is a peak of diesel-oil consumption, which usually causes a shortage in diesel-oil supply in some specific regions of the country. Also a resent argentinean legislation (National Law N° 26,093) established that to year 2010 the diesel-oil to be commercialized in Argentina must be blended, at least, with 5% of biodiesel. The main goal of this study was to determine whether it is possible to use a high temperature grain dryer originally configured to use diesel-oil to use biodiesel instead (or different diesel-biodiesel blends). A secondary objective was to find out if there is any difference in the combustion residues on the grain with the two fuels. Two experiments were performed. In the first experiment a diesel-oil burner was tested using diesel-oil and biodiesel in different blends. In the second experiment a portable high temperature continuous flow grain dryer was tested drying corn with pure diesel-oil and biodiesel. The results showed that it was possible to run with biodiesel (pure or blends) a burner and a dryer that were originally configured for diesel-oil. The burner and the dryer did not require additional regulations when changed from one fuel to the other. No substantial change was noticed in the drying air temperature, in the drying capacity (although in the burner and dryer tests the performance of the pure biodiesel fuel was slightly lower) or in grain quality. No combustion residues were found in any corn sample dried with diesel-oil or biodiesel.