Fuel Properties of Diesel-Ethanol-Tetrahydrofuran Blends: Experimental and Theoretical Approaches

Oil based fuel is the most important energy source in the road transport sector which has an increasing demand of fuel meanwhile its raw material resources are decreasing. Therefore, new fuels and blends are urgently needed. Blends of diesel fuel-ethanol could be one of the solutions. For this its properties must be described properly. To describe density, viscosity and surface tension of these types of fuel, five blends containing 2, 5, 8, 10 and 15% ethanol were prepared and stabilized at 20 °C and 0 °C by using tetrahydrofuran as surfactant. The density and viscosity of blends were measured at 0, 15, 40 and 50 °C and their surface tension was evaluated at 20 °C. In order to characterize the hazardousness of these blends their flash points were measured. The density and viscosity of the blends were mathematically described as a function of their composition and temperature. Surface tension was modelled as a function of ethanol content.