Improved Quality Soy-oil Based Biodiesel Fuel

The benefits of biodiesel have been well documented, however, problems related to fuel quality, filter plugging, injector failure, material compatibility, and fuel economy still remain and must be resolved before wide spread use of biodiesel can be addressed. Some of these problems are inter-related, but all are inherent to the composition of the biodiesel. In particular, the presence of double bonds in the fatty acid residues impacts its oxidation and storage stability. Furthermore the relatively high average molecular weight composition of biodiesel affects its flow properties and compatibility compared with a petroleum-based diesel. These inherent problems require blending biodiesel with petroleum-based fuel, hinder its use in cold temperature, negatively affect fuel economy, increase particulate emission, and lead to power loss. The overall objective of this proposal is to improve the quality of biodiesel by chemical modification.. Improved quality will improve the cold temperature properties, extend the oxidation and storage stability, and will eliminate the need for blending with petroleum-based diesel. The replacement of 1% of current on-road diesel fuel with biodiesel would result in a 300 million gallon demand that would require 215 million bushels of soybeans. The gross impact on the farm economy would be of the order of $800million. In addition (at this level) a small reduction in imported crude oil would result. Higher market penetrations would result in significant reductions in imported oil.