The use of animal fats in the diesel fuelled engine

Abstract

The decrease in the reserves of non-renewable oil products has led to the search for alternative solutions to ensure the replacement of petroleum products used in internal combustion engines and a reduction of the pollution imposed by international regulations for the limitation of greenhouse gases, of NOx, HC, CO and smoke. So, a good solution is the use of preheated animal fats used at the compression ignition engines in mixture with the diesel fuel. The properties of animal fats are similar to diesel fuel, and therefore animal fats preheating and blending with diesel fuel is a simple, cheap method and their use in compression ignition engines does not require engine modifications. The main advantages of animal fats are the cetane number and the inferior calorific power which have values that are very close to those of diesel fuel, but have the disadvantages of high viscosity and poor vaporization characteristics, the preheating of animal fats being required. When animal fats are preheated to a temperature of about 40°C and mixed with diesel fuel, they are totally soluble in blend which is completely homogeneous, with no limit of dissolution.