Testing of Glycerol Ketals as Components of B20, B50 Fuel Blends

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to the synthesis of glycerol ketals by using p-toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA), their applications in biodiesel blends. Biodiesel was prepared from the sunflower oil by the transesterification reaction in the presence of a new catalytic system. The conversion was 83% at using a 1:3 molar ratio of oil to alcohol at 55°C. The use of the proposed catalytic system reduces the amount of foam produced by biodiesel washing, thus simplifying its synthesis. Due to the absence of the neutralization stage, the described catalytic system can be reused after water removal through distillation. Important fuel physical properties of diesel, biodiesel, and oxygenated diesel blends with the ASTM standards had been investigated. Based on the obtained results is noted that the fuel blends B20 and B50 with (or without) the oxygenated have greater potentials for diesel engines than, B100 and diesel. The structures of the obtained products were investigated by NMR spectroscopy.

Keywords

• glycerol ketals
• diesel
• biodiesel
• cetane number
• transesterification