Study on volatility and flash point of the pseudo binary mixtures of sunflower-based biodiesel + methylcyclohexane

The transesterification of sunflower seed oil was carried out in supercritical ethanol without using any catalyst to produce biodiesel. In the present work, methylcyclohexane was added to enhance the vapor pressure of biodiesel. The vapor pressures of mixtures of biodiesel + methylcyclohexane as a function of temperature were measured by comparative ebulliometry with an inclined ebulliometer. The vapor pressures versus composition at different temperatures were obtained. Experimental data of vapor pressures and equilibrium temperatures were correlated by the Antoine equation. A mathematical model was used to predict the flash point of the pseudo binary mixtures. With the regular solution theory, the predictive flash point displays agreement with the experimental data obtained by closed cup test.