Evaluation of Biodiesel Derived from Camelina Sativa Oil

Nestor U. Soriano, Jr.

Presented at the 99th AOCS Meeting, Seattle, WA

It was only in 2005 that the commercial production of Camelina (Camelina sativa) as a valuable rotational/cash crop was initiated. Since then, Camelina production is rapidly expanding across the Northern Great Plains and Pacific Northwest. The advantage that camelina has in comparison to graph 1other oilseed crops is its low input cost (seed, fertilizer, pesticides). Recent studies have indicated that biodiesel produced from camelina oil could be manufactured at $1.75 to $2.25/gal. However, camelina is a new crop to the United States and the biodiesel industry, and studies on the utilization and manufacture of camelina biodiesel are limited.

The biodiesel was prepared via the conventional base-catalyzed transesterification with methanol on a lab scale. Evaluation of the fuel properties of the product was based on ASTM D6751 including flashpoint, water and sediment, kinematic viscosity, sulfur, copper strip corrosion, cloud point, pour point, carbon residue, acid number, free and total glycerin, distillation (T90 AET) and oxidation stability.

Biodiesel derived from other vegetable oils including soybean, canola, sunflower, safflower and palm were also prepared and characterized. The fatty acid profile for all the vegetable oils were analyzed by Gas Chromatography. Statistical analysis was performed to compare the fuel properties of the different biodiesels.

Lastly, due to the concern over the poor oxidative stability of camelina biodiesel, commercially available antioxidant fuel additives were used to treat neat (100% biodiesel) camelina biodiesel and were evaluated with oxidative stability tests.

graph 2
  • Some fuel properties of camelina biodiesel is comparable with that of sunflower biodiesel including viscosity, cloud point, cold filter plugging point, flash point and oxidative stability.
  • Camelina biodiesel does not meet the oxidative stability and distillation temperature limits set by ASTM.
  • Camelina exhibits a high tendency to form carbon deposits.
  • The oxidative stability of camelina is improved by treatment with commercially available additives.
  • Blending camelina with coconut biodiesel resulted in more desirable fuel properties.