Determination of the fuel properties of cottonseed oil methyl ester and its blends with diesel fuel

Abstract

In this study; density, kinematic viscosity, calorific value, flash point and water content ofmethyl ester produced from cottonseed oil (CO) were determined under varying blend ratiowith ultimate euro diesel fuel, also density and kinematic viscosity were investigated at differenttemperatures. Six different fuel blends (3%, 5%, 10%, 25%, 50% and 75% by volume blendingwith diesel), cottonseed oil methyl ester (COME), cottonseed oil and diesel were used forexperiments. Density of samples was measured 0- 93 o C interval with 5oC increments andkinematic viscosity of samples was measured 298.15- 373.15 K interval with 5 K increments.All of the measurements were performed at 20o C room temperatures. It is found that; density,kinematic viscosity, calorific value, flash point and water content of cottonseed oil are 921.50kg/m3 , 31.347 mm 2/s, 39.278 MJ/kg, 237oC and 232.90 mg/kg, respectively. For cottonseed oilmethyl ester, they are 884.75 kg/m3 , 4.713 mm 2/s, 39.254 MJ/kg, 171 oC and 499.19 mg/kg,respectively. The densities of each fuel sample decreased linearly with increasing temperature.But the kinematic viscosities of each fuel sample decreased exponentially with increasingtemperature. In addition experimental results, the most commonly used prediction models wereused to calculate the density and kinematic viscosity varying with temperature and blend ratio.Also calorific value, flash point and water content were correlated.