Glycerin Derivatives as Fuel Additives: The Addition of Glycerol/Acetone Ketal (Solketal) in Gasolines

Glycerin was reacted with acetone and formaldehyde to produce the correspondent ketal (solketal) and acetal, respectively. These compounds were blended in 1, 3, and 5 vol % with gasoline containing 0 and 25 vol % ethanol. The addition of the glycerin derivatives did not significantly change the distillation curve of the gasolines. The solketal reduced the gum formation in both gasolines (with and without ethanol) and increased the octane number up to 2.5 points in the gasoline without ethanol. The glycerin/formaldehyde acetal was only soluble in the gasoline containing ethanol and led to an increase in gum formation and a slight reduction (up to 0.75 points) in the octane number. These results indicate that solketal has a potential for blending with regular gasoline and may be an alternative for the glycerin produced from biodiesel.