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Improvement of Palm Oil Biodiesel Filterability by Adsorption Methods

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

Palm oil biodiesel (POB) is characterized by a very high cold soak filtration time (CSFT), which places the acceptability of this biofuel at risk. Therefore, the effect of four adsorbents, namely diatomaceous earth, natural silicate (NS), neutral bleaching earth (NBE), and acid activated bleaching earth (AABE), at two levels of addition (1 and 5 wt%) or two temperatures (25 and 110 °C) on the precipitate content and CSFT of POB was investigated. The impact on total glycerin content, moisture content, and oxidative stability was also examined. All treatments significantly decreased the precipitate content, total glycerin content, and moisture content, but only treatments with NS, NBE, and AABE at 5 wt% and 25 °C achieved acceptable filterability. The OSI value was also decreased; however, it remained above the ASTM limit. Operational conditions of treatment with AABE were further optimized in a two-factor, five-level center composite design. The combination of 0.65 wt% AABE and 10 min at 25 °C decreased CSFT to below the ASTM limit. Lower adsorbent concentrations could be effective down to 0.44 wt%, given a corresponding increase in the contact time up to 30 min.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e innovación, COLCIENCIAS, through the Francisco José de Caldas doctoral training program; the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK); and the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and North Dakota Center of Excellence for Oilseeds Development. The authors also gratefully acknowledge Ecodiesel Colombia S.A. for providing the palm oil biodiesel samples for this study, and EP Minerals, LLC and Oil-Dri Corporation of America for providing the adsorbent samples for this study. Sincere appreciation is also extended to Dr. Gülcan Özkan for guidance on the SG analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo Sostenible en Industria y Energía, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Carrera 27 calle 9, Bucaramanga, Colombia

    Vladimir Plata & Viatcheslav Kafarov

  2. NDSU Dept. 7620, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, North Dakota State University, 1221 Albrecht Boulevard, Fargo, ND, P.O. Box 6050, 58108, USA

    Darrin Haagenson & Dennis Wiesenborn

  3. Department of Food Engineering, Balikesir University, Campus of Çağış, 10165, Balikesir, Turkey

    Ayhan Dağdelen

Authors
  1. Vladimir Plata
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  2. Darrin Haagenson
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  3. Ayhan Dağdelen
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  4. Dennis Wiesenborn
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  5. Viatcheslav Kafarov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dennis Wiesenborn.

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Plata, V., Haagenson, D., Dağdelen, A. et al. Improvement of Palm Oil Biodiesel Filterability by Adsorption Methods. J Am Oil Chem Soc 92, 893–903 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-015-2646-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-015-2646-z

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