Production of Bioethanol and Sunflower Methyl Ester and Investigation of Fuel Blend Properties

Biofuels are the main substitute to fossil fuels. These fuels are less polluting in comparison to fossil fuels and can be produced from agricultural material residues for use in diesel engines. In this research work bioethanol was produced from potato waste. It was dehydrated in a vapor phase using 3A zeolite and was used in combination with sunflower methyl ester oil and diesel fuel blending which was evaluated thereafter. The sunflower methyl ester was also produced using a transesterification method. Considering the laboratory conditions and fuel stability limits to be used, the suitable blending proportion of bioethanol and diesel fuel was determined to be 12 to 88 and then, for maintaining fuel stability at temperatures lower than 15oC, the sunflower methyl ester was added to the mixture. The pour point of the fuel and different fuel blends, the viscosity, cetane number, flash point, amount of fuel ash, sulfur content and copper corrosion were determined in the laboratory. Experiments show that ethanol plays an important role on the flash point of the blends. With the addition of 3% bioethanol to diesel and sunflower methyl ester, the flash point was reduced to 16oC. The viscosity of the blends was reduced with the increase in the amount of ethanol. The sulfur content of bioethanol and sunflower methyl ester is very low compared with that of diesel fuel. The sulfur content of diesel is 500 ppm whereas that for ethanol and sunflower methyl ester is 0 and 15 ppm, respectively. The lower amount of sulfur content facilitates the use of fuel blends in diesel engines. For the ethanol and sunflower methyl ester combination, this amount is less than 20 ppm.