Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic characterisation of palm biodiesel and its blends

Palm biodiesel is typically produced using either crude palm oil (CPO) or palm olein (POo). The use of palm based biodiesel has been gaining momentum in the past decade. Although not commonly used as neat fuel, palm biodiesel is used as blends with petroleum diesel at various blending ratios. Residue vegetable oil components from incomplete transesterification reaction or contamination during handling and storage could affect the quality of the palm biodiesel and its blends. The presence of vegetable oil components in biodiesel or its blends could lead to serious engine damage and need to be addressed at the early stage. The current technique for the determination of palm biodiesel – petroleum diesel blending ratio using Fourier Transform infrared (FT-IR) method is not able to detect the presence of vegetable oil components in the samples. This paper describes the application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy method for rapid and accurate characterization and blend level determination of palm oil based biodiesel.