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TEST RESULTS

PROMISING FIND from coconut-diesel tests.

Thiruvananthapuram , April 13

Using coconut methyl ester (CME) or coco-biodiesel is just like using diesel fuel — only better.

Independent tests conducted by the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with CME have consistently yielded the same results as diesel fuel, but with more positive results.

This finding was revealed by the Philippines Department of Energy following the receipt of NREL's final report on its analyses of local CME, conventional diesel fuels and CME-diesel blends. Coco-biodiesel is derived from coconut oil, of which the Philippines is a major producer.

MEETS PARAMETERS

Tests revealed that both diesel and CME fuels met existing Philippine National Standards for diesel fuel quality. CME, however, scored better in terms of cetane number, flash point and sulphur content, compared to diesel. Oil companies and car manufacturers have been raising technical concerns regarding the mandatory blending of CME into diesel fuel.

CME has a cetane number of 70, while diesel only has 56. The higher cetane number of CME means it burns more completely, resulting in more power, better engine performance, longer mileage and lower emission for vehicles.

Safe to handle

A higher flash point means CME is safer to handle and store than diesel, because it will take a higher temperature to ignite it. NREL results show that CME's flash point is 107 degrees Celsius, compared to diesel fuel's flash point of 79 degrees Celsius. CME is nearly sulphur-free, unlike diesel fuel.

Sulphur content in fuel releases sulphur dioxide, a known air pollutant that can cause a number of respiratory illnesses such as breathing difficulties, as well as aggravate existing heart disease. Sulphur dioxide also poses environmental problems such as haze and acid rain.

The NREL tests also revealed that CME-blended diesel does not take up significant amounts of water, which means practice of pushing diesel fuels through the pipeline with the use of sea water will have no significant effect on the quality of the CME-diesel blend.

Similar stability

Under different storage conditions, CME and CME-blended diesel showed similar levels of stability as diesel, meaning they will not clog fuel filters and injectors and are just as safe for the engine as diesel. Tests also showed that both diesel and CME-diesel blends had comparable results in terms of their corrosive effects on the engine's metal, proving that one fuel type is not better than the other.

The Department of Energy is the lead agency promoting the federal government's biodiesel programme, which aims to mandate the use of CME-based biodiesel blends as motor fuel. Currently, the department is working closely with the Congress for the passage of the Bio-Fuels Bill, which seeks to mandate the use of biodiesel and bioethanol as fuel additives to diesel and gasoline, respectively.

More Stories on : Coconut & Copra | Non-conventional Energy

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