Characteristics Analysis of BE20 and BE25 Biodiesel Fuels

Excessively exploited diesel oil will run out of reserves on earth. Its use is not controlled is predicted to be exhausted within a certain period. Biodiesel is one of the solutions as an alternative energy substitute for diesel fuel because it is renewable. Many vegetable natural resources can be used as raw materials for making biodiesel, such as palm oil, Calophyllum inophyllum seeds, jatropha curcas.

Biodiesel has a low flash point characteristic. Therefore, ethanol is needed as an additive to increase its flashpoint. The flashpoint and combustion must be considered so that it does not ignite by itself because it can damage the engine. In addition, if ethanol is blended with biodiesel there is no need for modifications to the engine and injection pump.

Blended ethanol in biodiesel in addition to being a catalyst, can also reduce its viscosity and surface tension. In this research, 80% biodiesel was blended with 20% ethanol (BE20), and 75% biodiesel with 25% ethanol (BE25) in volume units. Testing the characteristics of this research is to obtain the size of the droplet and the angle of spays produced by the biodiesel-ethanol blend at injector pressures of 2000, 2500, and 3000 psi.

The results showed that the greater the pressure exerted on BE20 and BE25, the smaller the size of the resulting droplet, and the greater the angle of spray.