BIODIESEL AND FEEDSTOCKS POSSIBILITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS A Review

Abstract

Different crops can be used for biodiesel production, most often: oil palms, soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, algae, Jatropha, corn, Karanja, peanut, even mustard, Mahua, cotton, castor, coconut, etc. Biodiesels produced from such different feedstocks and with variations in the processing base oils technological processes often have characteristics that may deviate from the characteristics required by the relevant biodiesel standards. Research on Diesel engines with such biodiesels may result in incorrect or insufficiently precise conclusions. The paper presents the potential of certain plant raw materials for biodiesel production and the characteristics of biodiesels (density, viscosity, flash point, cold filter plugging point, cloud point, cetane number, iodine number, oxidation stability, and heating value) made from different feedstocks. This is important when choosing biodiesel for research or practical use, but also for the potential mixing of different biodiesels, to obtain biodiesel with appropriate characteristics.