Density, Speed of Sound, and Viscosity Measurements of Reference Materials for Biofuels

Published

February 10, 2012

Author(s)

Arno R. Laesecke, Tara J. Fortin, Jolene D. Splett

Abstract

Measurements of density, speed of sound, and viscosity have been carried out on liquid standard reference materials for biofuels as a function of temperature at ambient pressure. The samples included anhydrous and hydrated bioethanol and two biodiesels from different feedstocks, soy and animal fat. The ethanol samples were measured from a maximum temperature of 60 °C to 5 °C (speed of sound) and to -10 °C (density and viscosity), respectively. The biodiesel samples were characterized from 100 °C (density and viscosity) and from 70 °C (speed of sound) to 10 °C (animal fat-based) and 5 °C (soy-based). Densities were measured with two vibrating-tube instruments of different accuracy. The speeds of sound were measured with a propagation-time method in an acoustic cell that was combined with one of the densimeters. Viscosities were measured with an open gravitational capillary viscometer and with a rotating concentric cylinder viscometer according to Stabinger. The measurement results are reported with detailed uncertainty analyses.

Citation

Energy and Fuels

Volume

26

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Adjustment, Biodiesel, Bioethanol, Biofuels, Calibration, Capillary viscometer, Density, Reference materials, Rotating concentric cylinder viscometer, Speed of Sound, Stabinger viscometer, Vibrating-tube densimeter, Viscosity

Citation

Laesecke, A. , Fortin, T. and Splett, J. (2012), Density, Speed of Sound, and Viscosity Measurements of Reference Materials for Biofuels, Energy and Fuels, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=909571 (Accessed October 13, 2025)