DETECTION OF COLD FLOW PROPERTIES OF DIESEL AND BIODIESEL FUEL USING OPTICAL SENSOR A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri- Columbia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by SUMIT TAYAL Dr. Brain Adams, Thesis Supervisor MAY 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I learned many things in the Biological Engineering Department at University of Missouri-Columbia. This research offered me a lot of knowledge and experience on biodiesel fuel and optical sensors. I deeply appreciate the school for giving me a chance. Many people supported me when I worked to finish the project. I would like to express gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Brian Adams for picking me for this project and guiding me in the right direction. I wish to thank Dr. Leon Schumacher for guiding my research and providing with the material for testing the sensor. I would like to thank Dr. H. R. Chandrasekhar for allowing me to work in the Optics Laboratory that helped me in my research. I wish to thank Dr. Kenneth A. Sudduth for allowing me to use his spectrometer. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Deepa, my parents - Jitendra and Laxmi, my elder sister, Ila. I would not have been able to achieve much without their immense encouragement. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................ ii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................1 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO BIODIESEL .................................................................1 1.2 NEED FOR BIODIESEL ..................................................................................1 1.3 MANUFACTURING OF BIODIESEL.............................................................2 1.4 CHEMICAL REACTION .................................................................................3 1.5 CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF BIODIESEL AND DIESEL PRODUCTS................................................................................4 1.5.1 ENERGY CONTENT......................................................................4 1.5.2 CETANE NUMBER........................................................................5 1.5.3 EMISSIONS ....................................................................................6 1.5.4 FLASHPOINT .................................................................................7 1.6 PROTECTIVE MEASURES WITH BIODIESEL FUEL.................................8 1.6.1 EFFECT OF BIODIESEL ON PAINTED SURFACE ...................8 1.6.2 BIODIESEL SOAKED RAGS........................................................9 1.7 USING BIODIESEL IN COLD WEATHER....................................................9 1.8 LIMITATIONS WITH BIODIESEL FUEL......................................................9 1.8.1 COST ...............................................................................................9 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................11 2.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................11 2.2 COLD FLOW PROPERTIES OF DIESEL AND BIODIESEL......................11 2.2.1 CLOUD POINT................................................................................11 2.2.2 POUR POINT ...................................................................................13 2.2.3 LOW TEMPERATURE FLOW TEST (LTFT) ..............................14 iii 2.2.4 COLD FILTER PLUGGING POINT (CFPP) .................................15 2.3 WHY DETECT CLOUD POINT? .................................................................17 2.4 DETECTION OF CLOUD POINT USING SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES ...................................................................................19 2.4.1 CAPACITIVE SENSOR ..................................................................19 2.4.2 OPTICAL SENSOR .........................................................................20 2.5 ASTM STANDARDS .....................................................................................21 2.5.1 ASTM D5771....................................................................................21 2.5.2 ASTM D5772....................................................................................22 2.5.3 ASTM D5773....................................................................................24 2.6 COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE CLOUD POINT DETECTORS..............25 2.6.1 KLA-3 AUTOMATIC CLOUD POINT SYSTEM..........................25 2.6.2 KITTIWAKE CLOUD POINT DETECTOR...................................25 2.6.3 CRYSTAL CLOUD POINT DETECTOR.......................................26 2.7 OBJECTIVES..................................................................................................27 3. MATERIAL AND METHODS ......................................................................28 3.1 APPARATUS ..................................................................................................28 3.1.1 TEST STAND...................................................................................28 3.1.2 BIODIESEL COOLING CYLINDER..............................................30 3.1.3 COOLING SYSTEM EXCHANGER ..............................................31 3.2 SENSOR ..........................................................................................................32 3.2.1 BASIC PRINCIPLE..........................................................................32 3.2.2 SENSOR CONSTRUCTION ...........................................................33 3.2.3 SNELL’S LAW ................................................................................35 3.3 MATERIALS REQUIRED .............................................................................37 3.3.1 LIGHT SOURCE..............................................................................37 3.3.2 MOTORS..........................................................................................38 3.3.3 PUMP................................................................................................38 3.3.4 SPECTROMETER ...........................................................................38 3.3.5 MULTIMETER ................................................................................39 iv 3.4 FUELS SAMPLE PREPARATION................................................................39 3.4.1 FUEL.................................................................................................39 3.4.2 BLENDING OF BIODIESEL FUEL WITH DIESEL FUEL ..........39 3.5 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN ...........................................................................42 3.6 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE ..................................................................43 3.6.1 SETTING BASELINE......................................................................43 3.6.2 PRE-EXPERIMENTAL MEASURES.............................................43 3.6.2.1 SYSTEM CLEANING ......................................................43 3.6.2.2 SAMPLE QUANTITY ......................................................43 3.6.2.3 STARTING THE TEST STAND ......................................44 3.6.2.4 COLLECTING READINGS .............................................44 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................................45 4.1 FUEL ANALYSIS...........................................................................................45 4.2 FUEL PROPERTIES.......................................................................................49 4.3 DATA COLLECTION ....................................................................................50 4.4 BLENDS OF BIODIESEL ..............................................................................54 4.4.1 B100 (100% BIODIESEL) ...............................................................55 4.4.2 D2B0 (100% NO. 2 DIESEL) ..........................................................57 4.4.3 D2B2 (98% NO. 2 DIESEL AND 2% BIODIESEL).......................59 4.4.4 D2B5 (95% NO. 2 DIESEL AND 5% BIODIESEL).......................61 4.4.5 D2B20 (80% NO. 2 DIESEL AND 20% BIODIESEL)...................63 4.4.6 D1B0 (100% NO. 1 DIESEL) ..........................................................65 4.4.7 D1B2 (98% NO. 1 DIESEL AND 2% BIODIESEL).......................67 4.4.8 D1B5 (95% NO. 1 DIESEL AND 5% BIODIESEL).......................69 4.4.9 D1B20 (80% NO. 1 DIESEL AND 20% BIODIESEL)...................71 4.5 TRANSMITTANCE VS WAVELENGTH- CLOUD POINT........................73 4.6 TRANSMITTANCE VS TEMPERATURE....................................................75 v 5. CONCLUSIONS ..............................................................................................80 6. RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................81 APPENDICES..................................................................................................................82 APPENDIX A- SENSOR DRAWINGS................................................................82 APPENDIX B- STATISTICAL ANALYSIS SOFTWARE PROGRAM TO CONVERT