The effect of washing process on fuel properties in biodiesel production

The importance of fuel for world's economy and politics is an undebetable truth. Rapid decrease of world's energy resources made this unrenewable energy resource strategic. Since traditional fossil energy resources are limited and greenhouse gas emissions are becoming a greater concern, research is now being directed towards the use of alternative renewable fuels that are capable of fulfilling an increasing energy demand. One of the more promising approaches is the conversion of vegetable oils (VOs) and other feedstocks, which primarily contain triglycerides (TGs) and free fatty acids (FFAs), into biodiesel.The quality of biodiesel is related to the oil, catalyst type and quantity, methanol's oil/molar rate, reaction heat and time, purity and property of alcahols, production method, quality of washing phase, decomposition of glycerin and store conditions. In this study, raw biodiesel derived from refined cottonseed oil by transesterification has obtained biodiesel by washing with distillated pure water (DW) and deionizationed water (DEW). Physical-chemical properties of biodiesel and the effect of washing processes to the fuel properties are investigated.