Fuel properties of microalgae (Chlorella protothecoides) oil biodiesel and its blends with petroleum diesel

The feasibility of biodiesel production from microalgae oil was investigated with respect to its fuel properties and blending characteristics with petroleum diesel. Microalgae oil methyl esters (MAMEs) showed satisfactory fuel properties, and their predominant components were 65.2 wt.% methyl oleate and 18.5 wt.% methyl linoleate. The MAMEs had a cold filter plugging point of −13 °C, an iodine value of 112.2 g I2/100 g, a kinematic viscosity of 4.43 mm2/s at 40 °C, and an oxidation stability of approximately 4.5 h. Furthermore, both the cold filter plugging point and oxidation stability of the MAMEs-diesel blends decreased with a higher blending ratio of the MAMEs. Correlations were established to describe the linear increases of the density and kinematic viscosity with the volumetric percentage of the MAMEs for the MAMEs-diesel blends.