  Many oil fires have resulted from the crude oil train derailments in recent
years. Given the importance of crude oil shipping by rail to the energy
security of the US, it is important to consider various methods that will
decrease the likelihood of crude oil catching fire in case of a crude oil
derailment. Present study examines the effect of polybutadiene polymer on the
combustion properties and soot deposits of Bakken and Pennsylvania crudes.
Treating these crudes as multicomponent liquid fuels and polybutadiene as an
additive, droplet combustion experiments were conducted with sub-millimeter
sized spherical droplets suspended on very fine support fibers. Polybutadiene
polymer additive of two different chain lengths has been investigated. Results
show that both polymer chain length and origin of crude oil have a significant
effect on various combustion properties like combustion rate, ignition delay,
total combustion time, and flame stand-off ratio. Polymeric additives also
change the soot deposit structure and particle size compared to the base fuel.
Present research is envisioned to aid in theoretical combustion modeling of
complex multicomponent liquid fuels, as well as generate interest in
investigating more polymeric additives for liquid fuels.
