(547a) A Comparative Review of Thermophysical Properties and Characteristics of Biofuels and Petrofuels

With limited sources of conventional petroleum reserves and due to environmental impacts of petroleum derived fuels (petrofuels), production and uses of biofuels (fuels produced from biomass) are on the rise. It is projected that by 2050, biofuels contribute to about 30% of world transportation fuels. The main purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate and to compare the nature and characteristics as well as thermophysical properties of biofuels with petrofuels.

Although there are many types of biofuels in the forms of gaseous (such as biomethane or biohydrogen) as well as in liquid and solid forms but the two types of biofuels that have been commercialized are biodiesel and bioethanol and both are in liquid forms. In addition to regular biodiesel produced from alcohols, biodiesel can be produced from hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) which hydrogen is used as a catalyst to convert vegetable oil to biodiesel [1]. Properties of these biofuels (produced from different paths and different raw materials) are compared with specifications of different petrofuels such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and light gas-oil used as transportation fuels. Physical properties (ie, density , boiling range and transport properties ), thermal properties (ie, heating value, heat capacity), properties related to engine performance (cetane number, fuel consumption), safety (ie, flash point), cold conditions (pour point), fuel quality (ie, H/C ratio, aromatic, sulfur and oxygen contents) as well as fuel impacts on the environment (ie, CO, NO and sulfur emissions) are discussed in this presentation.

[1] Riazi, M. R. and Chiaramonti, D. (editors), Biofuels Production and Processing Technology, CRC Press, 690 pages, October 2017.