Production of Tung Oil Biodiesel and Variation of Fuel Properties During Storage

The crude Tung oil with 4.72?mg KOH/g of acid value (AV) was converted by direct transesterification, and the reaction mixture was quantified. The phase distribution data showed that 38.24% of excess methanol, 11.76% of KOH, 10.13% of soap and 4.36% of glycerol were in the biodiesel phase; 0.35% of biodiesel dissolved in the glycerol phase. Tung oil biodiesel as well as its blends with 0(#) diesel was investigated under different storage conditions. The results indicated that higher temperature greatly influenced the storage stability, especially when the volume fraction of Tung oil biodiesel is increased in the blends.