Alternative fuels produced from different feedstocks or processing technologies will differ in chemical composition from each other and from petroleum-based fuels. In this work, the composition of hydrotreated renewal diesel fuel (HRD-76) derived from algae was analyzed using GC/MS, and its flash point, density, viscosity, and surface tension were measured.  These measurements were used to develop several mixtures containing a small number of linear and branched hydrocarbons that closely match the physical properties.  Then the HRD-76 and a subset of the mixtures were combusted in a highly-instrumented legacy military diesel engine to determine which mixture showed similar combustion behavior in terms of ignition delay and overall burn duration.  The optimal mixture contained four linear alkanes and one branched hydrocarbon (isododecane).

Algal-based hydrotreated renewable diesel: Characterization and development of a surrogate fuel mixture

245th National Meeting (2013)

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