engleski

Low temperature properties of propyl, butyl and octyl based biodiesels and corresponding biodiesel-diesel blends

Biodiesel, as a renewable source of energy, can be obtained through the transesterification reaction from natural feedstock, such as vegetable oils or animal fats, that react with an alcohol, most commonly lower alcohols like methanol or ethanol. Besides the main product that is biodiesel, also known as fatty acid alkyl esters, the transesterification reaction yields glycerol as a by-product. In comparison to biodiesel, conventional diesel has different chemical structure, consisting of paraffinic, naphthenic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Therefore, when combined together, there is a change in certain fuel properties, including viscosity, heating value, density or cetane number. In this study, different biodiesel- diesel blends were prepared, with the use of purified biodiesels that were synthesized from alcohols propanol, butanol and octanol. The temperature of crystallization, as well as the enthalpy of crystallization, were determined using DSC, while the cold filter plugging point for selected samples was determined by standardized test according to the standard HRN EN 116. In all cases, samples of biodiesel showed higher crystallization temperature and cold filter plugging point than the ones of mineral diesel and their blends. Cold filter plugging point of fatty acid butyl esters is lower than the one of fatty acid propyl esters. Furthermore, since the obtained results of the crystallization temperature and cold filter plugging point for blends and diesel are within the repeatability of these methods, it can be stated that the addition of biodiesel up to 10 vol% doesn’t affect these low temperature properties.

biodiesel ; temperature of crystallization ; cold filter plugging point

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