Comparative analysis of renewable diesel and biodiesel produced from Jatropha oil

Abstract The quest of moving from conventional diesel fuels to alternate fuels is never‐ending. Renewable diesel stands out as it has a similar molecular structure to that of diesel. Renewable diesel from hydroprocessing of Jatropha oil in presence of ruthenium catalyst is not much researched and the same has been worked upon in this paper. The objective of this paper is to analyze physiochemical properties of renewable diesel (R100), biodiesel (B100), and blends of diesel (D100) and renewable diesel and to check the operational feasibility. Renewable diesel was mixed in 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%, by volume in diesel. It was observed that renewable diesel had better cold flow properties than diesel. Calorific value (CV) of renewable diesel and biodiesel was 1.84% and 3.92% less than diesel respectively. Present study shows up to 30% renewable diesel in diesel is a substitute fuel, as their viscosities (2.55, 2.60, 2.64cSt), densities (834.4 kg/m3, 831.87 kg/m3, 830.6 kg/m3) and CVs (42.42 MJ/kg, 42.30 MJ/kg, 42.09 MJ/kg) are close to diesel (2.42cSt, 837 kg/m3 and 42.57 MJ/kg). This is also confirmed by a storage stability test conducted for 24 weeks. Cetane number of blends of R100 greater than 30% are found to be high; this can interfere with engine power output hence requiring amendments in current engines, which is not possible, therefore it is feasible to use blends only up to 30% of R100. GC–MS and Fourier transform infrared radiation showed a higher number of hydrocarbon atoms with diminutive oxygen percentage in R100, vis‐a‐vis, higher levels of unsaturation with more oxygen in B100.