Fuel Properties of Two Types High-Speed Diesel Blending with Palm Oil Biodiesel in Indonesia

Abstract

Biodiesel from palm oil (Elaeis guineensis) is one of the promising renewable sources in Indonesia. Biodiesel is renewable transportation fuel and nowadays is being used as a blend with high-speed diesel (HSD). There are two types of HSD in fuel specification of The Indonesian Government, HSD with Cetane No. 48 and HSD with Cetane No. 51. This paper investigates the fuel properties of HSD 48 and HSD 51 blends with palm oil biodiesel with composition 90:10 (B10), 80:20 (B20), and 70:30 (B30). The experimental investigation shows that the fuel blending HSD 48 and HSD 51 with biodiesel up to 30% improve HSD quality, such as increasing cetane number by 10%, increasing lubricity by 10-18%, and decreasing sulfur content by 35%. Furthermore, biodiesel addition to HSD has a negative effect that increases the acid value and water content, decreasing heating value and cold-flow performance, such as cloud point, pour point, and cold filter plugging point. This can be improved by tightening up the quality of biodiesel. However, the addition of palm oil biodiesel up to 30% (B30) is the potential to promote renewable fuels with tolerable characteristics with HSD fuel specification by improving the quality and specification of biodiesel and blends.