Comparative study of calorific value of rapeseed, soybean, jatropha curcas and crambe biodiesel

Abstract

Biodiesel is a mixture of esters of short chain alcohols, produced as an alternative fuel for mineral diesel substitution. It is originated from renewable sources (fats and oils) and is less pollutants. But for its implementation, it is necessary to analyze some important quality parameters. A very important fuel`s feature is the calorific value, which represents the amount of heat transferred into the chamber during the combustion and indicates the available energy in fuel. The calorific value is obtained experimentally using a calorimetric bomb. The higher the calorific value, the higher is the yield of the fuel. The aim of this study is to determine the calorific value of rapeseed, soybean, jatropha curcas and crambe biodiesel using a calorimetric bomb. The results were associated with the ethyl ester composition of each biodiesel. The crambe biodiesel shows the highest calorific value (∆H= 40564 J g-1) influenced by the high amount of long chain ethyl ester originated from behenic acid (C22:0) that composes 57.2% of crambe oil. The rapeseed, soybean and jatropha curcas biodiesel that exhibit approximately the same amount of long chain ethyl ester showed calorific values near to ∆H= 39450 J g-1.