Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD) as Source of Biofuel: Availability and Suitability Analysis

Abstract

Palm oil had been used as fuel in Malaysia with the implementation of petroleum diesel and Palm Methyl Ester (PME) blend at 5% in 2014 and going to 20% blend in 2020. The high cost of the feedstock and the process to convert Free Fatty Acid (FFA) to PME is the major drawback of PME. Alternate feedstock for palm-based biofuel is palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) obtained from a by-product of crude palm oil (CPO) refining. The present study aims to critically analyze the characteristic of biofuel properties which produced using the blend of PFAD and diesel without any chemical reaction. Five blends of PFAD and diesel blends with 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% produced in this study. The blending was done using magnetic stirrer and mix continuously for 30 minutes at elevated temperature, 60 °C. The properties of the blends such as density, viscosity, surface tension, pour point and calorific value were determined experimentally. The properties of the blends increase proportionately when PFAD content increases except for calorific value. The calorific value showed a reduction of 3% compared to diesel fuel at 25% blend while the rest showed an insignificant reduction.