2021 Volume 33 Issue 3 Pages 61-70
In this study, we investigated the possibility of popularization of bio-diesel fuel (BDF) in Vietnam. We found that by 2025, there will be an annual demand for over 18 million tons of diesel fuel in Vietnam. However, Vietnam currently has no commercial supply of BDF. Thus, it is necessary to promote commercial BDF production for future energy security and sustainable agriculture development in Vietnam. We investigated three necessary factors, enough material supply, processing technology to produce high quality bio-diesel fuel with reasonable cost, and adaptation to latest type diesel engines. First, we surveyed candidate materials, and identified three potential materials, such as cashew nut peel oil, rubber seed oil, and animal fat oil. Second, we focused on BDF production technology, and confirmed high-quality BDF with a fatty acid methyl ester ratio of 97.77% could be extracted from animal fat by our co-solvent method. As final, for adaptation of BDF to engines, we carried out diesel engine endurance test with our processed BDF, which was durability and adaptability tests using our own brand common-rail diesel engine with B0, B5, B10, B20, and B100 (100% biodiesel) BDFs. Exhaust gas monitoring was performed for NOx, THC, CO, and smoke. As a result, we found no problems with B0 to B20 fuel, and only a small amount of solid was found in the B100 test case.
