Abstract
Biodiesel is non-petroleum based fuel produced from vegetable oils or animal fats through transesterification. The compositions of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in the feedstocks are important factors for biodiesel quality in terms of low-temperature fluidity and oxidative stability. The goal of this study is to improve the cold flow property of biodiesel from vegetable and animal origin containing highly saturated methyl esters (approx. 50%). In this purpose poly-saturated methyl esters in palm and tallow biodiesel were removed via urea-based fractionation and then the recovered fractions (enriched unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters) were supplemented with cold flow improvers. The highest concentration of unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters (93.8%) was obtained using a urea/fatty acid ratio of 3:1 at the crystallization temperature of $0^{\circ}C$ for 17 hours in incubation, with recovery of 71% and the addition of cold flow improver (Flozol$^{(R)}$ 515, 3,000 ppm) to the enriched poly-unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters reduced the CFPP(cold filter plugging point) of palm biodiesel from $12^{\circ}C$ to $-42^{\circ}C$. In tallow biodiesel both the enrichment of unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters (93.71%) and the addition of cold flow improver (Infineum R408, 3,000ppm) reduced the CFPP from $10^{\circ}C$ to $-32^{\circ}C$.