Improvement Of Cold-Flow Properties Of Biodiesel And Its Blends In Petroleum-Based Diesel

Abstract

Biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester) which is derived from triglycerides by transesterification has attracted considerable attention during the past decade as a renewable, biodegradable and nontoxic fuel. Several processes for biodiesel fuel production have been developed, among which transesterification using alkali as catalyst gives high level of conversion of triglycerides to their corresponding methyl ester in a short duration. This process has therefore been widely utilized for biodiesel fuel production in a number of countries. In India, non-edible oils like karanja oil and jatropha oil are available in abundance, which can be converted to biodiesel. The present work deals with influence of chemical additives polymethyl acrylate (PMA) and poly alpha olefin (PAO) on the flow properties of biodiesel made from Jatropha and Karanja oils and its blends in petroleum based diesel fuels and anhydrous ethanol at low temperatures. Effect of ethanol and commercial additives on cold flow behavior of this biodiesel was studied. A considerable reduction in pour point has been noticed by using these cold flow improvers. The experimental results showed that the poly alpha olefin additive was very effective in the depression of the pour point of jatropha biodiesel and karanja biodiesel and retard viscosity increase of biodiesel at low temperatures when incorporated into biodiesel at the additive contents of 5.0 g/L.