Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences: Research Areas

Abstract:
Most vegetable oils are too viscous for direct use as diesel engine fuel hence they are transesterified to biodiesel to modify their properties. Transesterification involves transformation of the molecular structure hence change in the properties. The objective of this paper is to quantify the changes in selected properties after tranesterification and blending with diesel fuel using cashew, rubber and egunsi seed oils as case studies. The oils were transesterified and the properties measured following the ASTM protocols. The results obtained shows that properties such as flash points, acid and iodine values reduced while others like cetane number increased with blending. Blending can hence be used to modify the properties of biodiesels.

Keywords: Keywords: biodiesel, diesel, transesterification, blending, fatty acid profile, properties.

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