The fuel quality of Biodiesel depends on several factors that include:
- the levels of free and total glycerin
- the fatty acid ester composition of the parent vegetable oil
- or animal fat and residual alcohol generated as part of the production process
For example, fuels with excessive free glycerin show problems with the glycerin settling out in storage tanks, leading to a highly viscous mixture that can lead to clogged fuel systems, injector fouling and valve deposits. The primary criteria for measuring biodiesel quality are specified by adherence to appropriate standards.
ASTM method D-6584 specifies the free and total glycerin content (0.020 max % mass and 0.240 max % mass respectively). Corresponding European biodiesel standards specify levels of fatty acid ester content (96.5% mass by EN method 14103), free and total glycerin (0.02 and 0.25 % mass respectively by EN method 14105) and methanol content (0.20 max % by EN method 14110).
PerkinElmer offers application-specific Biodiesel solutions, which provide everything that you need from an analysis perspective for quick and easy setup and operation.