A laboratory scale biofuel lantern with a 1960 cm³ reservoir capacity was designed, constructed, and experimentally evaluated for use in combustion education and research. The system features an atmospheric premixed burner that produces a stable, conical blue flame, indicating near complete combustion. A PIC16F877A microcontroller was integrated for real-time monitoring of flame temperature (0–150°C) and fuel status, enhancing its utility as a teaching and diagnostic tool in heat transfer and combustion laboratories. Performance evaluation was conducted using kerosene and a single biodiesel over an extended 60 minute combustion period, with data recorded at one minute intervals to improve statistical robustness. Results showed a consistent decline in reservoir pressure, fuel flow rate, and flame temperature over time. Strong linear relationships were observed between key combustion parameters, with R² values exceeding 0.99 for most correlations. A multiple regression model was developed to predict flame temperature from pressure and fuel flow rate, achieving an R² of 0.994 and a correlation coefficient of 0.997. Residual analysis confirmed the validity of the linear assumptions, with no systematic bias detected. While the lantern was designed for testing various biofuels (e.g., jatropha, palm, peanut), only one biodiesel was tested in this study. Emissions such as CO, NOₓ, and soot were not measured, and comparisons with commercial lanterns were not performed. Therefore, the results support the lantern's functionality as a low cost, reliable educational tool for flame structure analysis and combustion dynamics, particularly in resource constrained institutions. Future scope includes emission profiling, testing with multiple biofuels, and longer-duration experiments to further validate the system.
Azaka et al. (Wed,) studied this question.