Vegetable oil fuels

Vegetable oils have the potential to substitute a fraction of petroleum distillates and petroleum-based petrochemicals in the near future. Vegetable oil fuels are not petroleum-competitive fuels because they are more expensive than petroleum fuels. However, with recent increases in petroleum prices and uncertainties concerning petroleum availability, there is renewed interest in using vegetable oils, called biodiesel, in diesel engines. 

Barsic, N.J., Humke, A.L. 1981. Performance and emissions characteristics of a naturally aspirated diesel engine with vegetable oil fuels. SAE paper no. 810262. Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, PA. 

Vegetable Oil Fuels, Proceedings of the International Conference on Plant and Vegetable Oils as Fuels, August 2-4,1982, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, St. Joseph, Mich. 

Physically, vegetable oils and their methyl and ethyl esters are very similar to diesel fuel. There has been no indication that any of the metals currently used in the distribution, storage, dispensing, or onboard fuel systems for diesel fuel would not be compatible with vegetable oil fuels. However, there are reports of some signs of incompatibilities with fuel transfer hoses [3.15], and nitrile and butadiene elastomers [3.16] with methyl esters. Elastomers with high fluorine... 

Peterson, C. L., Koras, R. A., Mora, P.G., and Madsen, J. P. 1987. Fumigation with Propane and Transesterification Effects on Injector Cooking with Vegetable Oil Fuels. Trans. ASAE, 30, 28-35. 

Schwab, A. W., Bagby, M. O., and Freedman B. 1987. Preparation and properties of diesel fuels from vegetable oils, Fuel, 66,1372-1378. 

Patil, PD Deng, S. Optimization of biodiesel production from edible and nonedible vegetable oils. Fuel, 2009, v. 88 (7), 1302-1306. 

Demirbas, A. 1998. Fuel Properties and Calculation of Higher Heating Values of Vegetable Oils. Fuel 77 (9-10) 1117-1120. 

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