AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON OXIDATIVE STABILITY OF BIODIESEL

Abstract

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engines that can be produced from renewable feed stocks such as vegetable oil and animal fats. These feed stocks are reacted with an alcohol to produce alkyl monoesters. The obtained ester can be used in conventional diesel engines with little or no modification. Biodiesel, especially if produced from highly unsaturated oils, oxidizes more rapidly than diesel fuel. This paper reports the results of accelerated oxidation tests on biodiesel. These tests show the impact of time, oxygen flow rate, temperature, metals, and feedstock type on the rate of oxidation. Blending with diesel fuel and the addition of antioxidants are also explored. The data indicate that without antioxidants, biodiesel will oxidize very quickly at temperatures typical of diesel engines. This oxidation results in increases in peroxide value, acid value, and viscosity. While the peroxide value generally reaches a plateau of about 350 meq O2/kg, the acid value and viscosity increase monotonically as oxidation proceeds.

Keywords

• Metil ester, Oksitlenme, Peroksit değeri, Asit değeri, Viskozite