Conversion of vegetable oils and animal fats into paraffinic cetane enhancers for diesel fuels

Conference · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:115313

Wong, A; Feng, Y ^[1]; Hogan, E ^[2]

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1. Arbokem, Inc., Vancouver (Canada)
2. CANMET, Ottawa (Canada)

The two principal methods of producing biodiesel fuels are (a) transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats with a monohydric alcohol, and (b) direct hydrotreating of tree oils, vegetable oils and animal fats. The patented hydrotreating technology is based on the catalytic processing of biomass oils and fats with hydrogen, under elevated temperature and pressure conditions. The typical mix of hydrotreated products is as follows: 5-15% light distillate (naphta), 40-60% middle distillate (cetane), 5-15% heavy distillate and 5-10% burner gas. The naptha fraction may be used as a gasoline supplement. The middle distillate is designed for use as a cetane booster for diesel fuels. Both heavy distillate and light hydrocarbon gases are usable as power boiler fuels. Typically, the cetane enhancer would be admixed with diesel fuel in the range of 5 to 30% by volume. This new diesel blend meets the essential quality characteristics of the basic diesel fuel, for direct use in diesel engines without any modifications. The basic hydrotreatment technology has been evaluated further in the laboratory on degummed soya oil, yellow grease and animal tallow. The preliminary findings suggest that the technology can provide efficient conversion of these materials into cetane enhancers for diesel fuels.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
• OSTI ID: 115313
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP--200-8098; CONF-9508104--; ON: DE95009230
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
BIOMASS
BOILER FUELS
DIESEL ENGINES
DIESEL FUELS
ESTERIFICATION
FATS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
IGNITION QUALITY
PERFORMANCE
SYNTHETIC FUELS
VEGETABLE OILS