EMISSIONS AND PERFORMANCE OF A DIESEL ENGINE FUELLED WITH BLENDS OF DIESEL AND BIODIESEL ADDITIVATED WITH BIO-OIL

Biodiesel is considered one of the most promising alternative fuels to petrol fuels. It consists of a mixture of alkyl esters obtained by transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats with a short chain alcohol (mainly methanol or ethanol) and catalysed by acids or bases (usually NaOH or KOH). Poor oxidation stability and cold flow properties of biodiesel are considered the main drawbacks for its wide utilization as fuel. Different synthetic additives have been used to improve biodiesel characteristics in order to fulfil the requirements defined in different standards, such as EN 14214 in Europe. As commercial additives are usually expensive, there is a motivation to explore new alternative low-cost additives. Phenolic compounds obtained from bio-oil have been used as a renewable additive for biodiesel, as they improve oxidation stability. In this work, the effect of the biodiesel additives on the performance of a diesel engine have been investigated and compared with four different fuel. Not important differences have been found between neat biodiesel and biodiesel with the renewable additive.