Fuel Oils
FAME in mineral oil products particularly healing fuel
Politicians want to support the use of renewable raw materials for heating of buildings as a
means to improve the environment, assist farmers and to secure jobs. Because of their similarity
with mineral oil products preference is given to the use of fatty acid methyl esters
(FAME). The European Commission has mandated the European Commission for Standardization
CEN to define a specification for FAME as a heating fuel.
If a standard is to be developed, test methods and critical values have to be determined, that
allow a good prediction of the field performance of the products under consideration. For this
a determination of the relationship between field performance and laboratory test results is
required. So far only a limited amount of data for the use of FAME as a heating fuel is available,
because in the past fatty acid methyl esters have mostly been marketed as diesel fuel.
As some requirements for heating fuels are similar to those of diesel fuel, the experiences
obtained with this are useful.
This literature survey summarizes the currently available results. It can be seen that so far
especially for oxidative and thermal stability no satisfactory test methods exist. FAME preferably
should be stored in the dark excluding air. Presence of water can result in hydrolysis
and microbes could cause problems. Manufacturers of heating equipment have found malfunction
by corrosion.
Two research projects that have been approved by the European Commission will help to
gain further knowledge.
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