• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.497-503
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• 2008

A variety of techniques has been employed in order to reduce problems caused by the crystallization of paraffin and saturated fatty acid esters in diesel fuel containing biodiesels. Methacrylate copolymers are known as additives which reduce the pour point and cold filtering plugging point (CFPP) of diesel fuels. This paper describes the synthesis, characterization and low temperature properties, having as an initial step the synthesis of the alkyl methacrylate monomers by esterification of methacrylic acid with C12, C18, and C22 fatty alcohols. The copolymerization of these monomers with styrene was then performed, with molar ratios of 30:70, 50:50 and 70:30 for styrene:alkyl methacrylate. All copolymers were characterized by $^1H-NMR$, FT-IR, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The poly(styrene-co-alkyl methacrylate)s (PStmSMAn) leads to a large reduction in the pour point and CFPP of poly(styrene-co-alkyl methacrylate) in ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) and BD5 with treated 100~5000 ppm of poly(styrene-co-alkyl methacrylate). BD5 fuel containing 5000 ppm of the copolymer (PSt82SMA18) showed a $25^{\circ}C$ and $9^{\circ}C$ reduction in their pour points and CFPP, respectively.