Fuel 90 (2011) 838843

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Fuel
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Flow properties of vegetable oildiesel fuel blends

Z. Franco, Q.D. Nguyen
School of Chemical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 18 June 2009
Received in revised form 16 September
2010
Accepted 22 September 2010
Available online 16 October 2010
Keywords:
Vegetable oil
Diesel fuel
Diesel blend
Viscosity
Blending rule

a b s t r a c t
Straight vegetable oils provide cleaner burning and renewable alternatives to diesel fuel, but their inherently high viscosity compared to petroleum based diesel is undesirable for diesel engines. Lowering the
viscosity can be simply achieved by either increasing the temperature of the oil or by blending it with
diesel fuel, or both. In this work the rheological properties of diesel fuel and vegetable oil mixtures at different compositions were studied as a function of temperature to determine a viscositytemperature
composition relationship for use in design and optimization of heating and fuel injection systems used
in diesel engines. The vegetable oils used were corn, canola, olive, peanut, soybean and sunower oils
which are of commercial food grade. All the vegetable oils and their blends with No. 2 diesel fuel showed
time-independent Newtonian behaviour within the test temperatures between 20 C and 80 C. Viscosities of the pure oils and diesel were satisfactorily correlated with temperature by means of the Arrhenius
typed relationship. The Arrhenius blending rule was found applicable to describing the composition
dependence of viscosity all vegetable oilsdiesel blends at a xed temperature. These relations were combined to develop a simple mixture viscosity model to predict the viscosity of the vegetable oildiesel
blends as functions of temperature and composition based on properties of the pure components.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
With the instability in supply and price of crude oil in the world
market and the need to reduce exhaust emission, there is a renewed interest in the search for alternative sources of transport
fuel. Vegetable oils represent a ready, renewable and clean energy
source that has shown promise as a substitute to petroleum diesel
fuel for diesel engines [13]. There are different ways of utilising
vegetable oils as a substitute for petroleum diesel: (i) crude or rened neat oil; (ii) mixture of oil with diesel fuel with appropriate
dilutions; and (iii) alkyl ester products from the transesterication
process [35]. The advantages of vegetable oils, as compared to
other renewable energy sources, are that they can be produced
from numerous oil seed crops that can be cultivated anywhere,
have high energy contents, and exhibit clean combustion behaviour with zero lifecycle CO2 emission and negligible SO2 generation. Due to their low volatility and high ash points, vegetable
oils can be handled and stored with minimal safety precaution.
The greatest and immediate potential of vegetable oils is in agriculture, where they can be used as a sustainable source of fuel to supply some or all the energy needed to operate farm machinery and
equipment.
A major problem concerning the use of straight vegetable oils in
diesel engines is their inherently high viscosity, which causes poor
Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 8 8303 5456; fax: +61 8 8303 4373.
E-mail address: dzuy.nguyen@adelaide.edu.au (Q.D. Nguyen).
0016-2361/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2010.09.044

fuel atomization and inefcient mixing with air in combustion

chambers. The reactivity of the unburned fuel contributes to operational problems, such as injector coking and excessive carbon
deposits in engines [47].
Although various approaches have been proposed and tried to
alleviate the problems associated with the undesirable cold ow
properties of vegetable oils [4,5], the most practical and effective
methods for lowering the oil viscosity are by heating and/or blending the oil with a diesel fuel in suitable proportions [8,9]. Goodrum
and Law [1] have demonstrated that by preheating a peanut oil
diesel blend, it is possible to produce a fuel with desirable viscous
properties for successful operation of un-modied diesel engines.
Long-term performance tests by Nwafor and Rice [6] have shown
that blends of rapeseed oil and diesel were comparable in engine
performance to diesel alone, and that there was signicant
improvement in thermal efciency and hydrocarbon emissions,
compared with diesel fuel, when running on vegetable oil fuels.
For example, a 50/50 blend was found to compete favourably with
diesel fuel and offered a reasonable substitute for petroleum diesel.
Successful utilization of vegetable oildiesel blends as substitute to diesel fuel requires a good knowledge of the rheological
properties of the blends as function of blend composition and
temperature. Fuel viscosity is one of the most signicant properties affecting the atomization process, which is the initial stage of
combustion in a diesel engine. Flow properties are required as input data for predictive and diagnostic engine combustion models.
Furthermore, it is necessary to know if the fuel resulting from the

839

Z. Franco, Q.D. Nguyen / Fuel 90 (2011) 838843

Olive oil
Peanut oil
Canola oil
Soybean oil
Sunflower oil
Corn oil
Diesel

0.08

0.06

Viscosity (Pas)

blending process meets the standard specications for diesel

fuels.
In this work the ow properties of six different commercial vegetable oils and their blends with a petroleum diesel fuel are studied
as a function of temperature and compositions. The aim is to develop a general model for calculating the viscous properties of vegetable oildiesel fuel blends as a function temperature and blend
composition. The modelling is based on the Arrhenius mixing rule
that allows blend viscosity to be estimated from the properties and
composition of the pure components. The model developed would
be useful for predicting the composition and temperature required
to prepare a blended fuel with desirable viscosity for efcient
burning in diesel engines, which is necessary for the design and
optimization of heating and fuel injection systems.

0.04

0.02

0
290

2. Materials and methods

300

310

320

330

340

350

360

Temperature (K)
The vegetable oils used were commercial food-grade canola,
corn, olive, peanut, soybean, and sunower oils, purchased from
a supermarket. Table 1 shows the fatty acid compositions of the
oils as supplied by the manufacturers. Each of the oils was blended
with No. 2 grade automotive diesel fuel to make four mixtures containing 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% oil by volume. Blending was carried
out at room temperature by adding a measured volume of the oil to
the diesel under continuous agitation with a magnetic stirrer. The
rheological properties of the oils, diesel fuel and their blends were
determined using a rate-controlled rotational rheometer (Haake
Viscotester VT550, Germany) equipped with the concentric cylinder geometry. Rheological measurements were performed out at
constant temperatures ranging from 20 C to 80 C. The sample
temperature was maintained constant to within 0.1 C by means
of a water bath (Thermoline Scientic Unistat, Australia) which circulated water and through the jacket of the rheometer. Specic
gravity of each sample was also determined as a function of temperature using a standard glass hydrometer (Stenwick Scientic,
Australia). All measurements at each temperature were repeated
at least three times and the results were averaged for subsequent
analyses. The maximum uncertainties in both viscosity and density
determinations were less than 1%.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Viscosities of pure vegetable oils and diesel
Rheological measurements over a shear rate range of 1600 s1
indicated that the vegetable oils, the diesel fuel and their blends all
exhibit time-independent Newtonian ow behaviour in the temperature range investigated (2080 C). In Fig. 1 are shown viscosity data obtained for the pure vegetable oils and diesel fuel studied
as a function of temperature. At a given temperature, olive oil has
the highest viscosity, followed by peanut, canola, soybean, and
sunower oil with corn oil being the least viscous. Referring to
the fatty acid compositions of the oils in Table 1, the oil viscosity

Table 1
Fatty acids composition of the vegetable oils tested.
Oil

Canola
Corn
Olive
Peanut
Soybean
Sunower

Fatty acid composition (wt.%)

Saturated

Mono-unsaturated

Poly-unsaturated

8.7
13.8
17.0
18.9
14.3
11.2

60.4
25.2
69.9
45.9
24.3
26.3

30.0
61.1
13.0
35.1
61.4
62.6

Fig. 1. Viscositytemperature data for pure vegetable oils and diesel fuel.

generally increases with concentration of saturated fatty acids,

and decreases with polyunsaturated content. The same observations have been reported in previous studies by Abramovic and
Klofutar [10] and Santos et al. [11] on similar edible vegetable oils.
Santos et al. [11] also found that viscosity of vegetable oils could be
related more to concentration of polyunsaturated chains than the
monounsaturated fatty acid content.
The viscosity data in Fig. 1 clearly show that oil viscosity decreases non-linearly with temperature. The variations in viscosity
among the different oils become less signicant at higher temperatures. Also shown is viscosity of the diesel fuel used, which also
exhibits a decreasing function of temperature. Compared to the
diesel, the least viscous oil studied (corn oil) is approximately 5
12 times more viscous when the temperature is decreased from
80 to 20 C.
To determine a relationship between viscosity and temperature
for the six vegetable oils and diesel fuel, we tted the experimental
viscosity versus temperature data in Fig. 1 to various empirical correlations, which have been previously used for vegetable oil viscosity [8,10,1214]. It was found that the temperature dependence of
the viscosity of the pure vegetable oils and diesel used could be
satisfactorily described by the simple Arrhenius typed relationship
[15]:

l A  exp

E
RT


1

where l is dynamic viscosity, T is absolute temperature, A is a constant, E is enthalpy of activation and R is the universal gas constant.
Values of the parameters A and E determined by least square regression together with the data tting statistics are summarized in Table 2. The goodness of t is realized with linear correlation
Table 2
Values of the constants A and E for Eq. (1) and data tting statistics for the vegetable
oils and diesel fuel.
Oil

A (106 Pa s)

E (kJ/mol)

r2

MREa (%)

Olive oil
Peanut oil
Canola oil
Soybean oil
Sunower oil
Corn oil
Diesel

0.889
1.383
1.310
1.616
0.979
1.097
7.290

27.719
26.563
26.522
25.649
26.796
26.380
15.755

0.9969
0.9938
0.9971
0.9964
0.9974
0.9995
0.9980

3.13
4.17
2.98
3.13
2.87
1.27
1.40

a
MRE: Mean relative error = 100
data points.

PN
i

jcalc  expj=exp =N , where N = number of

840

Z. Franco, Q.D. Nguyen / Fuel 90 (2011) 838843

Soybean oil - Diesel blends

-6

0.06

Olive Oil
Peanut oil
Canola oil
Soybean oil
Sunflower oil
Corn oil

(a)

Am (10 Pas)

Viscosity (Pas)

10

100% oil
80% oil
60% oil
40% oil
20% oil
0% oil
Model fit

0.08

0.04

0.02

0
280

290

300

310

320

330

340

350

360

0.2

Fig. 2. Viscositytemperature data for soybean oildiesel blends. The continuous

lines represent model predictions using Eq. (3).

Viscosity (Pas)

0.6

0.8

30

(b)

Soybean oil - Diesel blends

Em (kJ/mol)

0.1
100% oil
80% oil
60% oil
40% oil
20% oil
0% oil

0.4

Oil Volume Fraction

Temperature (K)

20

Olive Oil
Peanut oil
Canola oil
Soybean oil
Sunflower oil
Corn oil

10

0.01
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Oil Volume Fraction

Fig. 4. Dependence of (a) constant Am, and (b) activation energy Em on oil
concentration.

0.001
0.0027

0.0029

0.0031

0.0033

0.0035

1/Temperature (1/K)
Fig. 3. Arrhenius plot of viscosity versus 1/T for soybean oildiesel blends to test
the applicability of Eq. (2).

coefcient r2 P 0.9938 and a maximum mean relative error (MRE)

of 4.17%. It is found that the parameter A is dependent on the characteristics of the oil, while the activation energy E is almost insensitive to the oil type. Based on data for the six different vegetable
oils tested, E has an average value of 26.61 0.67 kJ/mol with a variation of 2.52%.
3.2. Viscosities of vegetable oildiesel blends
An example of viscosity data obtained for the vegetable oils
blended with the diesel fuel as function of composition and temperature is presented in Fig. 2. For each blend, the viscosity decreases with temperature similarly to that of the pure vegetable
oil and the diesel. At a xed temperature, the blend viscosity decreases with increasing volume fraction of diesel in the mixture
as expected. The effect of composition on blend viscosity becomes
less signicant as the temperature is increased.
Two approaches were used to develop a model for correlating
the blend viscosity with temperature and composition. The rst
method is based on the observation that, similar to the pure oils
and diesel, viscosity of the blends also varies with temperature
according to the Arrhenius typed relationship:

lm Am  exp

Em
RT


2

where lm is the blend viscosity, and Am and Em are the corresponding model parameters for each blend at a xed composition. The
applicability of Eq. (2) to tting the viscositytemperature data
for all vegetable oildiesel mixtures at all concentrations tested is
demonstrated in Fig. 3, using the data for the soybean oildiesel
blends. From these linear plots of ln(lm) versus 1/T for all vegetable
oildiesel blends, values of Am and Em have been determined by
least square regression, and the results are presented in Fig. 4 as
function of oil concentration. It is found that Am decreases exponentially with oil concentration and Em increases linearly with volume
fraction of the oil in the blend. These results suggest that Eq. (2) can
be modied to include the effect of oil concentration on viscosity as
follows:

lm a  b/ exp



c/ d
RT

where a, b, c and d are constants, and / is the volume fraction of the

vegetable oil in the blend. Values of the constants determined by
least square regression are summarized in Table 3 for all vegetable
oildiesel mixtures studied. It may be noted that values of the constants a and d are not sensitive to the type of vegetable oil contained
in the blend. The constants b and c, however are dependent on
properties of the vegetable oil component of the blend. Table 3 also
shows the error statistics of tting the blend viscositytemperaturecomposition data using Eq. (3). It can be seen that the model

841

Z. Franco, Q.D. Nguyen / Fuel 90 (2011) 838843

Table 3
Values of the constants for Eq. (3) and data tting statistics for all oildiesel blends.
Oil component

a (106 Pa s)

b ()

c (kJ/mol)

d (kJ/mol)

MRE (%)

Max error (%)

Canola
Corn
Olive
Peanut
Soybean
Sunower

7.980
6.344
8.675
7.728
7.534
8.120

0.166
0.161
0.117
0.165
0.229
0.124

10.939
10.453
12.032
11.105
9.834
11.251

15.551
16.128
15.254
15.634
15.646
15.477

2.59
2.09
3.20
2.62
2.87
3.58

6.19
5.11
7.50
7.52
6.42
4.69

lnlm

N
X

xi lnli

N X
N
X
i

xi xj Iij

where lm is viscosity of the mixture, li is viscosity of a pure component i of concentration xi, (in mass, mol or volume fraction), N
is the number of components, and Iij is a parameter accounting
for binary interactions between two different components (Iij = 0
for i = j).
The mixture model was tested by plotting the logarithm of
blend viscosity measured at constant temperatures against oil volume fraction. An example is illustrated in Fig. 5 with experimental
data for the canola oildiesel blends. Over the whole range of blend
compositions and temperatures studied, the logarithm of blend
viscosity increases monotonically and linearly with volume fraction of the oil in the blend. Similar results were obtained for blends
containing other types of vegetable oils investigated, with the linear correlation coefcient (r2) greater than 0.999. The linearity of
the semi-logarithmic plots of viscosity versus oil volume fraction
indicates that the interaction terms Iij in the blending rule, Eq.
(4), can be neglected for mixtures of vegetable oils and diesel fuel
studied. This is reasonable for these components of the blend
which are similar in chemical structures and form miscible solutions at all proportions within the temperature range investigated.
Similar observations have been reported by Joshi and Pegg [17] for
diesel blends with sh oil biodiesel, and Benjumea et al. [18] with
blends of palm oil biodiesel and petroleum diesel.
Thus the Arrhenius mixing rule can be applied to correlate viscosity of vegetable oildiesel blends with oil composition at a xed
temperature as follows:

ln lm ln lO  ln lD / ln lD / ln lO 1  / ln lD
or

lm l/O l1/
D

0.1

Canola oil - Diesel Blends

Viscosity (Pa.s)

can predict blend viscosity with MRE ranging from 2.09% with the
corn oildiesel blends to 3.58% with the blends containing the sunower oil. An example of the excellent comparison between experimental data and model predictions by means of Eq. (3) is shown in
Fig. 2 for the blends containing the soybean oil. Overall, the maximum error involved in using Eq. (6) was less than 7.6% for all blends
of the six oils in diesel fuel studied, based on a population of 252
data points.
Although the empirical model represented by Eq. (3) is satisfactory for correlating the blend viscosity to composition as a function
of temperature, its application may be limited to the specic types
of vegetable oils and diesel fuel investigated. This model also requires four empirical constants which must be determined for each
oil and diesel combination from measurements of blend viscosity
at different compositions and temperatures. A more universal approach is required to develop a general model that is applicable
to diesel based blends with any vegetable oil. In this approach,
we employ the Arrhenius mixing rule that has been used for predicting transport properties of ideal liquid mixtures and solutions
based on properties of the individual components [15]. A simple
general form of the model in terms of the dynamic viscosity may
be expressed as follows [16]:

0.01
Temp (K)

293
303
313
323
333
343
353

0.001
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Oil Volume Fraction

Fig. 5. Plots of blend viscosity (log scale) at constant temperatures versus oil
volume fraction (linear scale) for the canola oildiesel blends.

where lO is viscosity of pure vegetable oil, lD is viscosity of pure

diesel fuel, and / is volume fraction of the oil in the mixture.
By means of Eq. (5), it is possible to predict the viscosity of a
vegetable oildiesel blend at a given temperature from known viscosities of the pure components at that temperature. The effect of
temperature on viscosity of vegetable oildiesel blends can be included in the mixture model by taking into account the temperature dependence of the pure component viscosities, assuming
there are no temperature-dependent interactions between the
components. By applying the viscositytemperature relationship,
Eq. (1), used earlier to the pure components viscosity terms in
Eq. (5), the following expression may be formulated for the blend
viscosity as functions of oil concentration and temperature:

lm AD

AO
AD

/

 exp



EO  ED / ED
RT

where AO and AD are the characteristic viscosity parameters for pure

oil and pure diesel, respectively, and EO and ED are the corresponding activation energies of the components. Values of these constants
determined for the vegetable oils and diesel fuel used are listed in
Table 2.
It is interesting to nd that Eq. (6) is similar in form to the
empirical correlation, Eq. (3), developed earlier based on data tting of blend viscosity with temperature and composition. This
may be interpreted as an indication of the validity of the mixture
approach for modeling viscosity of vegetable oildiesel blends.
The relationships between the constants (a, b, c and d) in Eq. (3)
and the Arrhenius parameters of the components are obvious.
While the application of Eq. (3) relies on four empirical constants
to correlate viscositytemperaturecomposition data, the mixture
model by means of Eq. (6) provides a simpler way for predicting
viscosity of vegetable oildiesel blends at any composition and

842

Z. Franco, Q.D. Nguyen / Fuel 90 (2011) 838843

0.1

950

Olive Oil - Diesel Blends

100% oil
80% oil
60% oil
40% oil
20% oil
0% oil
Mixture model

0.06

100% oil
80% oil
60% oil
40% oil
20% oil
0% oil

900
3

Density (kg/m )

Viscosity (Pas)

0.08

Soybean oil - Diesel blends

0.04

850

800
0.02

0
280

290

300

310

320

330

340

350

360

750
280

290

Temperature (K)

310

320

330

340

350

360

Temperature (K)

Fig. 6. Comparison between experimentally measured viscosity and viscosity

predicted using the mixture model, Eq. (6), for the olive oildiesel blends.

0.1

Predicted Viscosity (Pa.s)

300

Fig. 8. Densitytemperature data for soybean oildiesel blends at different

concentrations.

Table 4
Values of the constants a and b of Eq. (7) for the pure components of the vegetable
oilsdiesel blends.

0.01

Pure component

a (kg/m3)

b (kg/m3 K)

r2

Canola oil
Corn oil
Olive oil
Peanut oil
Soybean oil
Sunower oil
Diesel

1204.8
1240.6
1201.8
1187.7
1197.0
1239.8
1112.7

0.991
1.094
0.989
0.954
0.959
1.098
0.956

0.9980
0.9988
0.9976
0.9945
0.9978
0.9985
0.9972

3.3. Kinematic viscosity model for vegetable oildiesel blends

+5%
- 5%
0.001
0.100

0.01

0.1

Measured Viscosity (Pa.s)

Fig. 7. Comparison between measured viscosity and viscosity predicted using Eq.
(6) for the vegetable oildiesel fuel blends.

temperature by using only the knowledge of the temperaturedependent viscosities of the individual pure components. As an
example, Fig. 6 demonstrates an excellent agreement between viscosities predicted using the mixture model and experimental viscosity data for the olive oildiesel blends over the whole range of
concentrations and temperatures studied. A comparison of data
for all vegetable oildiesel fuel mixtures investigated (Fig. 7) indicate that the mixture model can predict blend viscosity accurately
with a maximum error of less than 5.5%.
To be useful for predicting viscosity of vegetable oildiesel
blends, Eq. (6) requires availability of the parameters, A and E,
for the pure oil and diesel components in the blend. As shown in
Table 2, the parameter Ao for the pure oil is dependent on the type
and source of the oil, while the activation energy Eo is almost
insensitive to the oil type. Thus, in the absence of temperature
dependence data for the pure vegetable oil, the average Eo value together with one viscosity datum at a known temperature for the
pure oil can be used with Eq. (6) to predict vegetable oildiesel
blend viscosity at any composition and temperature.

For practical purposes, the ow characteristic of a liquid fuel is

often described or specied in terms of its kinematic viscosity, dened as the ratio of the dynamic viscosity to density. To make use
of the mixture model developed for the dynamic viscosity, it is necessary to know how densities of the blends and their constituents
vary with temperature and composition.
Fig. 8 shows typical experimental density data obtained for the
soybean oildiesel mixtures as functions of temperature and composition. It can be seen that the density of the blend at any composition, including those of the pure components, decreases linearly
with temperature in the temperature range studied. The rate of
change in density with temperature appears to be independent
of composition of the blend. In addition, by applying the simple
mixing rule for density of liquid solutions and mixtures, we can obtain the following expression for temperature and composition
dependence of the blend density:

qm /qO 1  /qD /aO bO T 1  /aD bD T

where a and b are empirical constants determined from the linear

dependence of density on absolute temperature for the pure components. The subscripts O and D refer to pure oil and pure diesel, respectively. Values of these constants determined by least
square regression of densitytemperature data for the pure components are summarized in Table 4. It may be noted that b is essentially constant, independent of the vegetable oils and diesel
studied. The average value of b is 1.014 0.065 kg/m3 K based
on the six vegetable oils and diesel fuel studied.
The mixture density expression, Eq. (7), can next be combined
with the mixture dynamic viscosity model, Eq. (6), to obtain a com-

Z. Franco, Q.D. Nguyen / Fuel 90 (2011) 838843

m /s)

-6

Kinematic Viscosity (10

ever employed mass fraction instead of volume fraction as the

weighting factor.

100% oil
80% oil
60% oil
40% oil
20% oil
100% Diesel
Mixture model

Peanut oil - Diesel Blends

100

80

4. Conclusion

60

40

20

0
290

300

310

320

330

340

350

360

Temperature (K)
Fig. 9. Comparison between experimentally measured kinematic viscosity and
kinematic viscosity predicted using the mixture model, Eq. (8), for the peanut oil
diesel blends.

position- and temperature-dependent expression for the kinematic

viscosity of the blend:

mm

lm AD AO =AD /  exp EO  ED / ED =RT 

/aO bO T 1  /aD bD T
qm

The mixture model, in the form of Eq. (8), would provide a

method for predicting the kinematic viscosity of vegetable oildiesel blends at any concentration and temperature from known temperature-dependent properties of the individual pure components.
Fig. 9 shows an example with the peanut oildiesel blends to demonstrate an excellent agreement between kinematic viscosities
predicted using the mixture model and experimental data over
the whole range of concentrations and temperatures investigated.
A comparison of data for all vegetable oildiesel fuel mixtures
tested has indicated that the mixture model, Eq. (8) can predict
blend kinematic viscosity to within 6.5%.
We can simplify Eq. (8) further by writing it in the following
alternative form in terms of the kinematic viscosities of the
components:

lm
qO =qD /
lO

qm qO =qD  1/ 1 qO
Fq; /; Tm/O mD1/

mm

/ 

lD
qD

843

1/
9

where F qo =qD =qo =qD  1/ 1:

For all vegetable oildiesel blends studied, the factor F was
found to vary little with concentration and temperature over the
entire ranges with a minimum value of 0.999. Thus for practical
purposes, we can assume a value of unity for F, which from Eq.
(9) would imply that the Arrhenius mixing rule can also be applied
to the kinematic viscosity of the blends, with volume fraction as
the weighting factor. Successful applications of this mixing rule
to predicting kinematic viscosity of various biodieseldiesel blends
have been reported by Tat et al. [7] and Yuan et al. [19], who how-

The rheological properties of vegetable oildiesel blends, based

on six different types of vegetable oils, were studied experimentally as functions of temperature and blend composition. The data
obtained were used to develop an empirical correlation to relate
the blend viscosity to temperature and oil concentration. Although
this was satisfactory for the systems used, a simpler and more general model has been developed based on the Arrhenius viscosity
mixing rule which was found applicable to vegetable oildiesel
blend viscosity. The mixture model can be used to predict blend
viscosity (dynamic and kinematic) at any composition and temperature from known transport properties of the individual pure
components.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Shing Ruey Hoh and Thana Deawwanich for
their assistance during the course of this work.
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