Energies 2012, 5(8), 3137-3148; doi:10.3390/en5083137
Article

A Complementary Biodiesel Blend from Soapnut Oil and Free Fatty Acids

Yi-Hung Chen 1,* email, Ting-Cheng Tang 1 email, Tsung-Han Chiang 1 email, Bo-Yu Huang 1 email, Ching-Yuan Chang 2 email, Pen-Chi Chiang 2 email, Je-Lueng Shie 3 email, Matthias Franzreb 4 email and Lu-Yen Chen 5 email
1 Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan 2 Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan 3 Department of Environmental Engineering, National I-Lan University, I-Lan 260, Taiwan 4 Institut für Funktionelle Grenzflächen, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe 76344, Germany 5 Department of Energy Engineering, National United University, Miaoli 360, Taiwan
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 29 June 2012; in revised form: 24 July 2012 / Accepted: 16 August 2012 / Published: 17 August 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomass and Biofuels 2012)
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Abstract: Blends of biodiesels produced from soapnut oil and high-oleic free fatty acids (FFAs), which are potential non-edible oil feedstocks, were investigated with respect to their fuel properties. The soapnut oil methyl esters (SNME) had satisfactory fuel properties with the exception of its high cold filter plugging point. In contrast, the biodiesel from the FFAs had favorable fuel properties such as a low cold filter plugging point of −6 °C; however, it exhibits poor oxidation stability with an induction period (IP) of 0.2 h. The complementary blend of the SNME and the FFA-based biodiesel at various weight ratios was studied to improve the fuel properties. As a result, the biodiesel blend at a weight ratio of 70:30 can successfully meet all the biodiesel specifications, except the marginal oxidation stability. Furthermore, the effectiveness of N,N’-di-sec-butyl-p-phenylenediamine at the concentration between 100 and 500 ppm on the improvement in the oxidation stability of the biodiesel blend was examined. The relationship between the IP values associated with the consumption of antioxidants in the biodiesel blends was described by first-order reaction rate kinetics. In addition, the natural logarithm of IP (ln IP) at various concentrations of antioxidant presented a linear relation with the test temperature. The IP at ambient temperature can be predicted based on the extrapolation of the temperature dependence relation.
Keywords: soapnut oil; free fatty acids; cold filter plugging point; oxidation stability; antioxidant; kinetics

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Chen, Y.-H.; Tang, T.-C.; Chiang, T.-H.; Huang, B.-Y.; Chang, C.-Y.; Chiang, P.-C.; Shie, J.-L.; Franzreb, M.; Chen, L.-Y. A Complementary Biodiesel Blend from Soapnut Oil and Free Fatty Acids. Energies 2012, 5, 3137-3148.

AMA Style

Chen Y-H, Tang T-C, Chiang T-H, Huang B-Y, Chang C-Y, Chiang P-C, Shie J-L, Franzreb M, Chen L-Y. A Complementary Biodiesel Blend from Soapnut Oil and Free Fatty Acids. Energies. 2012; 5(8):3137-3148.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Chen, Yi-Hung; Tang, Ting-Cheng; Chiang, Tsung-Han; Huang, Bo-Yu; Chang, Ching-Yuan; Chiang, Pen-Chi; Shie, Je-Lueng; Franzreb, Matthias; Chen, Lu-Yen. 2012. "A Complementary Biodiesel Blend from Soapnut Oil and Free Fatty Acids." Energies 5, no. 8: 3137-3148.

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