2024 AIChE Annual Meeting
Evaluating the Efficacy of Ideal Solution Theory for Biodiesel Mixtures of Varying Complexities
Biodiesel is a promising replacement for petroleum-based diesel in a number of different applications. However, one of its major disadvantages is its inferior cold flow properties. Previous work has shown that the challenge with the cold flow properties is strongly correlated to the composition of the biodiesel, which primarily contains fatty acid methyl esters or ethyl esters (FAME/FAEE). Researchers have used a wide variety of thermodynamic models of varying complexities to conduct solid/liquid equilibrium analysis to estimate the cloud point of the biodiesel. This work comprehensively looks at cloud point data from a wide variety of sources and analyzes them using ideal solution theory. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to determine what variables caused the most variation in Cloud Point Prediction.