DETERMINATION OF CETANE NUMBER OF BIODIESEL AND IT'S INFLUENCE ON PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Biodiesel, an alternative fuel can be used in diesel engine as neat or blended with diesel. The physio-chemical properties of fuel are important in design of fuel system for compression ignition engine run on diesel, biodiesel or biodiesel blends. Cetane number is an important parameter in evaluating the quality of biodiesel fuel. Its determination is usually arduous and expensive. The present study is aimed at developing the mathematical relationship between viscosity, density, calorific value, flash point and cetane number (CN). An equation was developed relating the cetane number and thermal properties. The predicted cetane number values are compared with the measured cetane number values. This work establishes the general dependence of cetane number on the thermal properties of biodiesel.