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Nanostructures in clear and homogeneous mixtures of rapeseed oil and ethanol in the presence of green additives

Colloid and Polymer Science volume 293, pages 3225–3235 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Ethanol and rapeseed oil are mixed in the presence of tributyl citrate, 2,5-dimethylfuran, 2-methylfuran, 2-methyl tetrahydrofuran, methyl tert butyl ether, ethyl tert butyl ether, FAME-rapeseed biodiesel, 1-heptanol, and 2-ethylhexyl nitrate, at 25 °C (298.15 K). All these additives come or can be obtained completely or partially from plants. The obtained ternary phase diagrams show a large domain of clear and homogeneous solutions and a liquid two-phase system due to the partial solubility of rapeseed oil and ethanol. All the tested additives have thus an evident cosolvent behavior for ethanol and rapeseed oil. In all the studied systems, the possible presence of nanostructures is checked with dynamic light scattering (DLS) and confirmed using static light scattering (SLS). In the system rapeseed oil/ethanol/1-heptanol, the presence of nanostructures is definitely established performing small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The true geometry of these nanostructures could not be detected, but systematic conductivity measurements starting with the binary melt 1-heptanol/rapeseed oil in the presence of LiClO4 adding ethanol show clearly a continuous transition from ethanol-in-rapeseed oil to rapeseed oil-in-ethanol mixtures passing through a bicontinuous medium.

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Abbreviations

CN:

Cetane number

diMF:

2,5-Dimethylfuran

DLS:

Dynamic light scattering

ETBE:

Ethyl tert butyl ether

EHN:

2-Ethyl hexyl nitrate

FAME:

Fatty acid methyl ester

2MF:

2-Methylfuran

2MTHF:

2-Methyl tetrahydrofuran

MTBE:

Methyl tert butyl ether

SANS:

Small-angle neutron scattering

SLS:

Static light scattering

TBC:

Tributyl citrate

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Acknowledgments

A. Khoshsima is grateful for the financial support provided by the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology of Islamic Republic of Iran (MSRT) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). SANS measurements were performed in the course of experiments following proposal 9-10-1395 at the Institut Laue-Langevin (Grenoble, France). We thank very sincerely Bruno Deme and Isabelle Grillo from the ILL for their help during the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thermodynamics Research Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran, 16846-13114, Iran

    Ali Khoshsima & Mohammad Reza Dehghani

  2. Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Regensburg, 93040, Regensburg, Germany

    Ali Khoshsima, Didier Touraud, Julien Marcus & Werner Kunz

  3. Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule, UMR 5257 (CEA/CNRS/UM/ENSCM), 30207, Bagnols sur Cèze, France

    Olivier Diat

Authors
  1. Ali Khoshsima
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  2. Mohammad Reza Dehghani
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  3. Didier Touraud
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  4. Julien Marcus
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  5. Olivier Diat
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  6. Werner Kunz
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mohammad Reza Dehghani or Werner Kunz.

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Khoshsima, A., Dehghani, M.R., Touraud, D. et al. Nanostructures in clear and homogeneous mixtures of rapeseed oil and ethanol in the presence of green additives. Colloid Polym Sci 293, 3225–3235 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-015-3765-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-015-3765-7

Keywords

  • Nanostructures
  • Dynamic light scattering
  • Static light scattering
  • Conductivity measurements
  • Bicontinuous structure