Effect of Blending Ratio on the Fuel Properties of Almond Biodiesel

Ejiro Thelma Akhihiero,Samuel Ogbeide Ebhodaghe

doi:10.29333/ejosdr/7804

Abstract

Since almond seed oil can be used for biodiesel production, this study is aimed at investigating the effect of different blend ratios on the fuel properties of almond biodiesel. The biodiesel was characterized for the properties of flash point, cloud point, pour point, viscosity, saponification value, peroxide value, acid value, iodine value, density and specific gravity using the Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrophotometer (GCMS). When blended with petrol diesel at ratios of 20%, 30% and 50%, results showed that the properties of the biodiesel obtained at a blend of 20% had properties more similar to the ASTM standard. At that proportion of 20%, the properties of acid value, viscosity, cloud point, pour point and iodine value were found to be 0.95meq/kg, 8.80Cp, 60C, 10C and 41.62gI2/100g respectively, except the flash point which was 720C at biodiesel blend of 50%. This is because increase in blending ratios was found to result in corresponding increase of the properties.

Highlights

Almond seed oil has been investigated as a suitable source of biodiesel since it doesn’t require the use of antioxidants or cold flow improver to meet biodiesel quality unlike most other vegetable oils (Kumar & Sharma, 2015)
Research has shown that blending of vegetable oils with petrol diesel reduces the adverse effect of fossil fuel usage (Igbokwe et al, 2015; Khan et al, 2016)
Acid value increases as the percentage of almond seed oil biodiesel increased in the blends

Summary

Introduction

Almond seed oil has been investigated as a suitable source of biodiesel since it doesn’t require the use of antioxidants or cold flow improver to meet biodiesel quality unlike most other vegetable oils (Kumar & Sharma, 2015). Research has shown that blending of vegetable oils with petrol diesel reduces the adverse effect of fossil fuel usage (Igbokwe et al, 2015; Khan et al, 2016). Several studies have shown little research attention on the effect of blending ratio on the biodiesel potential of vegetable oils Some of these studies on almond seed oil have focused on the influence of co-solvent on its’ yield and quality as well as determination of its’ fuel properties (Fadhil & Mohammed, 2016), production and optimization of biodiesel production (Al-Tikrity et al, 2017; Esonye et al, 2018) and its’ applications in food, biotechnology and drilling operations (Oseh et al, 2019; Yesiloglu & Baskurt, 2008)

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Conclusion