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Alternative Fuels Group, Energy Institute, Faculty of Mines, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medelln, Colombia
b
Group of Energy Ecient Management GIMEL, Engineering Faculty, Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
Received 16 May 2007; received in revised form 24 October 2007; accepted 12 November 2007
Available online 21 December 2007
Abstract
The basic properties of several palm oil biodieseldiesel fuel blends were measured according to the corresponding ASTM standards.
In order to predict these properties, mixing rules are evaluated as a function of the volume fraction of biodiesel in the blend. Kays mixing
rule is used for predicting density, heating value, three dierent points of the distillation curve (T10, T50 and T90), cloud point and calculated cetane index, while an Arrhenius mixing rule is used for viscosity. The absolute average deviations (AAD) obtained were low,
demonstrating the suitability of the used mixing rules. It was found that the calculated cetane index of palm oil biodiesel obtained using
ASTM D4737 is in better agreement with the reported cetane number than the one corresponding to the ASTM D976. This result is most
likely due to the fact that the former standard takes into account the particular characteristics of the distillation curve.
2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Palm oil biodiesel; Blends; Basic properties; Mixing rules
1. Introduction
Biodiesel is currently the most widely accepted alternative fuel for diesel engines due to its technical, environmental and strategic advantages. It has enhanced
biodegradability, reduced toxicity and improved lubricity
in comparison with conventional diesel fuels. In addition,
this biofuel is completely miscible with petroleum diesel,
allowing the blending of these two fuels in any proportion.
Biodiesel can be used neat or blended in existing diesel
engines without signicant modications to the engine.
However, dierences in the chemical nature of biodiesel
(mixture of mono-alkyl ester of saturated and unsaturated
long chain fatty acids) and conventional diesel fuel (mixture of paranic, naphthenic and aromatic hydrocarbons)
result in dierences in their basic properties, aecting
engine performance and pollutant emissions. Biodiesel,
produced from any vegetable oil or animal fat, generally
has higher density, viscosity, cloud point and cetane num-
Corresponding author. Tel.: +574 425 5319; fax: +574 234 1004.
E-mail address: pbenjume@unalmed.edu.co (P. Benjumea).
0016-2361/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2007.11.004
2070
Mass percent
C12:0
C14:0
C16:0
C18:0
C18:1
C18:2
0.267
1.434
46.130
3.684
37.470
11.020
2071
Table 2
Basic properties of No. 2 diesel fuel and palm oil biodiesel
Properties
Density at 25 C
Mass high heating value
Volume high heating value
(25 C)
Cloud point
Cold lter plugging point
Kinematic viscosity at 40 C
Initial boiling point
Temperature at 50% recovered
Final boiling point
Calculated cetane index
Units
ASTM
Diesel
Palm oil
standard fuel No. 2 Biodiesel
kg/m
D1298
MJ/kg D240
MJ/m3 D240
853.97
45.273
38662
864.42
39.837
34436
C
C
mm2/s
C
C
C
5.0
6.0
4.33
181.5
284.9
384.3
46.3
47.5
16.0
12.0
4.71
302.2
326.5
348.9
57.3
50.0
D2500
D6371
D445
D86
D86
D86
D4737
D976
Table 3
Linear regressions parameters for fuel densities
Fuel type
B100
B20
B5
B0
Linear regression q a bT
a
R2
882.6689646
876.6406154
873.0569269
869.6231871
0.7342772415
0.7115968933
0.6920565595
0.6792453596
0.996686
0.997702
0.994305
0.997307
2072
n
X
xi ui
n
X
xi ln li
n X
n
X
xi xj Gij
where uB is the property of the blend and ui is the respective property of the ith component. Using volume fraction
instead of molar fraction, Eq. (5) for a binary mixture takes
the form of an arithmetic volume average:
uB V POB uPOB V D uD
3.3.1. Viscosity
Fig. 3 shows the eect of biodiesel content on the viscosity of the blends tested for three representative temperatures. As can be seen in this gure, viscosity slightly
increases with biodiesel content. The AADs obtained using
the selected mixing rule for estimating blend viscosity were
1.07%, 0.64% and 0.72% for the data corresponding to 16,
40 and 100 C, respectively.
3.3.2. Density
The variation in blend density with biodiesel content is
shown in Fig. 4. As was expected, density is directly proportional to biodiesel content. The AADs obtained using
Kays mixing rule to estimate blend densities were 0.13%,
0.15% and 0.09% for the data corresponding to 16, 40
and 100 C, respectively.
3.3.3. Heating value
Low heating values (LHV) were calculated from the
measured high heating values (HHV), taking into account
the elemental composition of the pure fuels and the
enthalpy of vaporization of water. As can be seen in
Fig. 5, the LHV of blends decreases in direct proportion
Table 4
Regression parameters for viscosity
Fuel type
B100
B30
B20
B5
B0
R2
0.364206158
0.192149860
0.162400318
0.220089863
0.142954422
55.22818898
60.09025836
61.85122113
56.0562369
60.16294716
416.2888996
462.560271
491.0603185
409.7122203
456.709883
0.988622
0.989173
0.962320
0.978609
0.98695
2073
2074
Table 5
Calculated cetane indexes for pure fuels and B5 and B20 blends
ASTM standard
B5
B20
B100
D976
D4737
47.8
46.6
48.7
46.9
48.9
47.0
50.3
57.7
takes into account T10 and T90 values. Table 5 shows the
CCI values using the two standards. Distillation curve
points were taken according to the measured values shown
in Fig. 7 and the values of density at 15 C were obtained
according to the linear regressions presented in Table 3.
For the blends tested (B5 and B20) the eect of biodiesel
content on the CCI of the blend was not signicant,
and the values obtained using both methods were similar.
For B100, the value of the CCI obtained using the ASTM
D4737 (CCI4737) was higher than that obtained using
the ASTM D976, and was in better agreement with the
measured cetane number reported for POB by Malaysian
Palm Oil Board researchers [28]. The better prediction
obtained using ASTM D4737 is most likely due to the
inclusion of the particular characteristics of the distillation
curve.
Two approaches were used to estimate the CCI4737 of
blends (see Fig. 9). In the rst, this parameter was calculated from values of blend densities at 15 C and distillation curve points obtained from Kays mixing rule. In the
second case, it was estimated directly from the mixing rule
as a function of biodiesel content and the value of the
parameter for pure fuels. As can be seen in Fig. 9, the
results obtained using both approaches are similar and
indicate that CCI increases with biodiesel content.
4. Conclusions
Basic properties of palm oil biodieseldiesel fuel blends
were measured according to ASTM standards.
Experimental data showing the variation of density and
kinematic viscosity with temperature were properly tted
by means of statistical regressions.
According to the low values obtained for the absolute
average deviations, it was found that simple mixing rules
2075