A Tool for Prediction of Biodiesel-Pretrodiesel Blend Ratio

Abstract

In this study, commercially available a diesel fuels were blended with the biodiesel produces from two different vegetable oils (sunflower, soybean). The blends (B5, B10, B20, B40, B60, B80) were prepared on a volume. The key fuel properties such as density and viscosities of the blends were measured by following ASTM test methods. Least-squares statistical regression on densities and viscosities data from each of the biodiesel/diesel blend sets revealed highly linear relationships (R2 > 0.99). For all blends, it was found that there is an excellent agreement between the measured and estimated values of the density. The results indicated that accurate prediction of density and viscosities of the blends was most effective when applied to blends prepared from the same fuel-types as the model systems used to develop the predictive equations.