Utilization of Desulfurized Heavy Liquid Fuel Blends in Domestic Boiler

One way to cut down the consumption of diesel fuel in domestic heating in Jordan is to blend it with shale oil, which may be extracted from oil shale. This leads to a cut down in the national fuel bill in Jordan. Unfortunately, shale oil contains significant amounts of sulfur as impurities and upon burning sulfur oxides are emitted causing a negative environmental impact, and hence desulfurization of such fuel blends is essential. This may be achieved by adding activated carbon to the fluids. The process of removing sulfur from shale oil is crucial for safeguarding the environment, human well-being, and equipment, as well as meeting regulatory requirements and creating superior-quality goods. In this study, a domestic boiler was utilized to evaluate the degree of desulfurization process of blends of diesel and shale oil fuels upon their burning in a domestic boiler, to achieve this, blends of both fuels were prepared with varying amounts of shale oil (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) and various amounts of activated carbon were added to the prepared mixtures of diesel fuel and shale oil. The assessment of performance included examining the environmental impact, specifically by analyzing exhaust gases to measure the concentration of Sulfur Oxide (SO2). It was found that an increase in the concentration of shale oil in the mixture led to an increase in the concentration of SO2. However, adding more activated carbon to the mixture from the fuels resulted in a decrease in the SO2 concentration. The lowest SO2 concentration was observed when 1g of activated carbon was added per liter of the fuel mixture at a 20% concentration of shale oil, and 0.6g of activated carbon per liter of the fuel mixture at a 40% concentration of oil shale.