Assessment of Fuel Properties of Castor Oil Blend with Kerosene and Ethanol as an Alternative to Petrodiesel

Abstract: This research work is aimed to develop Castor oil/kerosene blend as alternative to petro-diesel. Castor oil was blended with kerosene and ethanol at different proportions according to extreme vertices mixture design. Density, Cloud point, Color, Aniline point, API gravity, Diesel index, Cetane number, Sulphur content, kinematic viscosity, flash point and fire point of the blends were determined and then statistically analyzed and optimized. The results obtained showed that the flash points of Castor blends 61.18oF, which implies that, the value of Castor blend is close to the ASTM D 93 standard value for flash point on diesel. The kinematic viscosity for Castor blends was found to be 27.20cst, which indicated that the blends have values near the approved ASTM value for kinematic viscosity. The sulphur content for Castor blends (0.023) were within the accepted range for diesel oil for sulphur content. The values obtained for the cetane number of Castor (30.39) are below the accepted value set by ASTM for diesel oil. When measurements on API gravity of castor blends (34.22) were made, they fell within the accepted range set by motor vehicle manufacturers. The aniline value for Castor blends was found to be 83.05oF, which are considered to be acceptable. It can therefore be concluded that in this research work it was found that the Castor blends have diesel characteristics.

Keywords: Castor oil, Petro-diesel, Density, Diesel Index, Biofuel