Characteristic of Biodiesel Fuel Derived from Palm Oil

Fuel physical characteristic of biodiesel is one of the most important parameter to verify the quality of biofuel. Discreet observation and measurement is required to obtain the viscosity, density, acid value and moister content in order to define the properties of biodiesel. These data is very useful to be used in any numerical simulation on biodiesel. The properties of biodiesel also very important for experimental work on engine testing study to analyze the combustion characteristic on engine cylinder. The analysis of biodiesel derived from palm oil methyl ester was conducted in Chemical Laboratory by using different analytical machine including viscosity bath, acid value and acidity tester, density meter and moisture content analyzer. The comparison of biodiesel and their blends are compared with mineral diesel and straight vegetable oil (SVO). The results show that the density and viscosity of fuel is significantly increased when the ratio of biodiesel increases. In general, the result shows that the properties of palm oil biodiesel produce locally meet the requirement by international standard (EN14214).