Comparison of Diesel Fuel Oxygenate Additives with Composition-Explicit Distillation Curve Method Part 3: t-Butyl Glycerols

Published

May 2, 2011

Author(s)

Tara Lovestead, Thomas J. Bruno

Abstract

Interest in the domestic production of all fuels, sparked by the high cost of petroleum crude oil, has led to consideration of fluids to replace or extend conventional petroleum-derived fuels. There is particular interest in formulating oxygenated diesel fuels that produce low particulate emissions. Because of the complexity of fuels, and especially alternative fuels, fundamental property characterization methods are limited. One of the more critical properties is the volatility of the fuel, as measured by distillation. The advanced distillation curve (ADC) method is a significant improvement over classical distillation curve approaches, especially for complex fluids. The ADC method uses temperature, volume, and pressure measurements of low uncertainty, providing true thermodynamic state points that can be modeled with an equation of state. In addition, the ADC method incorporates a composition-explicit data channel, allowing for precise qualitative identification as well as quantitative analyses of each distillate fraction. In this paper, we present the application of the technique to mixtures of diesel fuel with the potential fuel additive t-butyl glycerol, which is a blend of mono-, di-, and tri- glycerol t-butyl ethers (GTBE). These compounds are derived from glycerol, a by-product of biodiesel fuel production. Four t-butyl glycerol blends were examined, Blends 1 and 2 are mostly composed of di-GTBE, Blend 3 is mostly composed of tri-GTBE, and blend 4 is mostly composed of mono-GTBE. We found that Blend 4 was not soluble in diesel fuel at room temperature at concentrations above 3 % (vol/vol), and thus, no reliable measurement could be made with this blend additive. We present the results for the initial boiling behavior, the distillation curve temperatures, as well as track the di- and tri-GTBEs throughout the distillations. This data will aid in determining the suitability of these types of compounds as oxygenate additives and fuel extenders for b

Citation

Energy and Fuels

Volume

25

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

advanced distillation curve (ADC), t-butyl glycerols, diesel fuel, distillation, fuel additive, oxygenate additive

Citation

Lovestead, T. and Bruno, T. (2011), Comparison of Diesel Fuel Oxygenate Additives with Composition-Explicit Distillation Curve Method Part 3: t-Butyl Glycerols, Energy and Fuels (Accessed April 18, 2024)