Polymer Additives as Cold Flow Improvers for Palm Oil Methyl Esters

Biodiesel is a fuel that can be originated from different raw materials. However, even a good quality biodiesel has its properties strongly dependent upon its fatty acid profile. For instance, samples with a high content of saturated fatty acids may present poor cold flow properties, meaning that they tend to solidify under low temperatures. In this work, we propose to synthesize polymer additives and apply them as cold flow improvers for palm methyl esters (biodiesel) and their blends with petrodiesel. The synthetic additives were evaluated at different concentrations to assess their effect on the pour point (PP) of the resulting neat or blended biofuel. By using 1000 ppm of poly(dodecyl acrylate-co-tetradecyl methacrylate), it was possible to decrease the PP of B5 (5 vol.% biodiesel + 95 vol.% diesel) and B20 (20 vol.% biodiesel + 80 vol.% diesel) to -35 degrees C and -14 degrees C, respectively, which allowed the use of these blends in regions where their flow properties would eventually be prohibitive. However, the performance of the additive on the neat fuel (B100) was negligible.