Aug 1 2016
A team of scientists have manufactured and developed a new certified reference material for the cloud point (CP) and the cold filter plugging point (CFPP) temperatures of biodiesel. This will allow more efficient and safer biofuels to be developed and recognized.
The new reference material, called ERM®-EF002, allows laboratories to accurately determine the lowest temperature at which biodiesel can be used.
The CP and CFPP temperatures of fuel are the temperatures at which fuel, upon cooling, either precipitates (this is the cloud point, CP) or solidifies and blocks a filter (this is the cold filter plugging point, CFPP). Determination of these values for any fuel during winter is important and is also an indicator of quality for biodiesel. To avoid blockage of fuel filters during cold weather accurate measurement is a necessity.
The European Union is encouraging the use of renewable energy resources, in order to limit global warming and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases such as CO2.
The novel material's stability and homogeneity was characterized and a batch of biodiesel was processed using it. An Intercomparision study to initiate the CFPP and the CP values was conducted between eleven laboratories from nine different European countries. After the results were calculated these certified values were assigned based on the requirements of the ISO Guide 34. Laboratories can use the newly released ERM®-EF002 to illustrate the accuracy of the results of CFPP and CP measurements.