Photothermal characterization of biodiesel and petroleum diesel fuels—A review and perspective

Abstract

Alternative fuels hold considerable promise as substitutes for petroleum diesel fuel. As such, biodiesel is a promising renewable fuel that has been developed and tested by a number of research groups. Quality control of this transportation fuel is of great significance to its commercialization. Conventional chromatographic and spectroscopic analytical methods are most commonly used for biodiesel characterization, in some cases yielding information detail beyond that needed for the determination of biodiesel quality. By contrast, less common methods, such as photothermal techniques, are well suited to characterize a wide range of transportation fuels. The complexities of photothermal and chemical analytical techniques are roughly similar, as are the costs. Photothermal methods are based on spectroscopic and thermophysical properties of the sample, an advantage with respect to ordinary chromatography and spectroscopy techniques. Furthermore, some photothermal techniques can be adapted for remote signal detection, which can be used for in situ analysis in fuel production for inline biodiesel quality inspection and control. Therefore, an overview and outlook of the photothermal characterization is of considerable interest. In this paper, the applications of photothermal techniques in the characterization of biodiesel, petroleum diesel fuels, and their blends are reviewed. The review includes thermophysical properties and correlations for fuels, determination of blend levels, and biodiesel stability investigations. After the review, discussion and perspective are presented for future improvement of photothermal characterization and industrial applications.

Microfiltration Performance of α-Alumina Membrane for Removal of Glycerol from Biodiesel

“…However, after 60 min the permeate fluxes showed similar values for all feed concentrations due to the fouling phenomena. The permeate flux decline due to the membrane fouling is commonly expressed by the flux decline ratio Rt that can be calculated using Equation (3). Table 1 depicts the flux decline ratio Rt as a function of the glycerol concentration in the feed.…”

“…To mitigate the depletion of fossil fuels and its impact on the gas emission, substituting fossil fuels with renewable energy sources have become a prominent solution. One of the renewable fuels is biodiesel that can be used to replace the petroleum diesel or can be blended with the petroleum diesel to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel [3]. Biodiesel is very popular in many countries and usually produced through a transesterification reaction of vegetable oils with alcohol with the addition of catalyst [4].…”

Production of Hydrocarbon Liquid Fuels from waste Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) through Pyrolysis

“…The alternate approach is to recycle the polymers through physio-chemical methods. [3,4,5] Plastics have a vital status in our cutting-edge society. The improved physicochem-ical properties (flexibility, availability, lightweight etc.)…”

“…These require a long time to decompose by the microbial community at ambient temperature. The alternate approach is to recycle the polymers through physio‐chemical methods [3,4,5] . Plastics have a vital status in our cutting‐edge society.…”