ARS | Publication request: CETANE NUMBERS OF FATTY COMPOUNDS: NEW RESULTS AND RELATION TO PREVIOUS RESEARCH

Submitted to: Annual Meeting and Expo of the American Oil Chemists' Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: May 16, 2001
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The cetane number is a descriptor of the ignition quality of a diesel fuel originally developed for petroleum-derived fuels. It has also been applied frequently to biodiesel fuel (usually methyl esters of vegetable oils or animal fats) or its individual components. Generally, the cetane numbers of fatty compounds have compared well to the materials comprising petrodiesel fuel. In the present work, the cetane numbers of several straight-chain and branched esters of fatty compounds were for the first time determined in an ignition quality tester (IQT). The IQT is a recently developed, automated apparatus which can accurately determine cetane numbers from small amounts of sample. The results obtained by using the IQT confirm the influence of structural features of fatty compounds such as unsaturation and branching on cetane number. The present results also compare well with previous cetane studies of fatty compounds.