Phase behavior and biofuel properties of waste cooking oil-alcohol-diesel blending in microemulsion form

Abstract

Abstract Waste cooking oil (WCO) can be used as an energy source to reduce fossil fuel consumption; however, WCO has high viscosity which restricts direct use in diesel engines. Emulsification techniques can be employed for fuel preparation by selecting suitable surfactants and WCO, diesel and butanol or ethanol ratios using a pseudo-ternary phase diagram. Results indicated that a WCO-diesel fuel blend (WDF) with butanol required no surfactants for homogeneous phase blending compared to WDF with ethanol. Phase behavior of WDF-ethanol blends with hydrophobic surfactants was more suitable than WDF-ethanol blends with more hydrophilic surfactants. Kinematic viscosity of WDF blends depended on the amount of surfactant and its hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) value. WCO content was determined as a significant factor contributing to WDF viscosity (p