Soybean-Derived Fuel Liquids from Different Sources as Blending Stocks for Middle Distillate Ground Transportation Fuels

It has been proposed that biodiesel liquids be used in blends with middle distillate ground transportation fuels by the various services in the Department of Defense. The U.S. Navy is considering allowing up to 20% biodiesel to be added as a blending stock to petroleum diesel fuels. It is important for operational considerations to examine the many problems this could present. Among the more important considerations are storage stability, filterability, fuel solubility, oxidative stability, and induced instability reactions. This paper reports on two different soybean-derived fuel liquids. The first is a fuel liquid that contains an antioxidant, and the second is a fuel liquid that was derived from recycled restaurant cooking oil with no added antioxidant. We compare both biodiesels in blends of 10% and 20% with both stable and unstable petroleum middle distillate fuels for storage stability, oxidative stability, solubility, and chemical instability results.