Fuel properties of biodiesels produced from blends of canola oil and animal tallow

摘要

Biodiesel is an alternative diesel fuel that can be produced from renewable feedstocks such as vegetable oil or animal fats by transesterification with methanolfor using in diesel engines. The viscosity and density of biodiesel fuels are important parameters due to being key fuel properties for injection and combustion process of diesel engines. These fuel properties mainly depend on the feedstock which is used in the biodiesel production. Also, lubricity is an important for diesel engine fuels due to the fuel injection systems are lubricated by the fuel itself. In this study, the blends containing 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of food-grade canola oil/inedible animal tallow in volume basis were prepared and converted into methyl esters by base-catalyzed transesterification. Effect of canola oil ration in the feedstock on the viscosity, density and lubricity were investigated. Lubricity was determined using the high-frequency reciprocating rig (HFRR) test. Experimental results showed that the kinematics viscosity of increased as animal tallow ratio increased in the feedstock, as animal tallow itself is more viscous than canola oil. Also, density did not change much when blended feedstocks were used. Besides, it was observed that lubricity of biodiesel fuels from blended feedstocks was slightly get worse compared with pure biodiesels.