Designer Biodiesel: An Optimization of Fuel Quality by Blending Multiple Oils

Abstract

Liquid biofuels such as biodiesel, derived from vegetable oils are gaining worldwide importance as a substitute for diesel fuel owing to their environmental advantages and renewable sources in nature. Since biodiesel has the similar fatty acid composition as the parent oil, its fuel properties are directly affected by the composition of the precursor vegetable oil. Various blends of some locally available vegetable oils such as Jatropha, Nahor, Yellow Oleander, Karanja, and Coconut were prepared by mixing at different volumetric ratios in the range of 1:1–1:10 (Jatropha: Coconut; Nahor: Coconut; Yellow Oleander: Coconut; Pongamia: Coconut, Jatropha: Yellow Oleander; Nahor: Yellow Oleander, Pongamia: Yellow Oleander, Pongamia: Jatropha, and Pongamia: Nahor). Biodiesel was prepared in laboratory scale from the pure vegetable oils and selected blends through a single step conc. H2SO4 catalyzed transesterification process and their fuel properties were analyzed in accordance with the standard test method. Fatty acid composition of the vegetable oils and the blends were elucidated by 1H NMR. The effect of fatty acid profile/composition on fuel properties such as cetane number, viscosity, calorific value, and iodine number has been measured.