Physicochemical characterization of levulinate esters with different alkyl chain lengths blended with fuel

Due to the advantages of cellulosic biomass, such as abundant reserves, renewable, and wide sources, the large-scale development of lignocellulosic biomass fuels has the advantage of relieving energy pressure and promoting energy conservation and emission reduction, of which the levulinate esters are a potential biomass liquid fuel. In this study, different alkyl chain lengths of the levulinate esters were blended with 0# fossil diesel, and the physicochemical properties of the blended fuels, such as mutual solubility, density, distillation range, closed flash point, kinematic viscosity, cold filter plugging point, oxidation stability, and sulfur content and other physical and chemical properties were tested and investigated. The results showed that the longer the alkyl chains of the levulinate esters, the better their stability when mixed with 0# petrochemical diesel. And levulinate esters with short alkyl chains can be easily separated from blended fuels at low temperatures. The physicochemical properties of the blended fuels improved significantly with the increase of carbon chain length and levulinate esters content, low-temperature flow characteristics, atomization characteristics of spraying, and safety of transportation and storage, and the physicochemical properties of levulinate blended fuels with long alkyl chains were more superior than shorter alkyl chains of the levulinate esters.