Comparing the lubricity of biofuels obtained from pyrolysis and alcoholysis of soybean oil and their blends with petroleum diesel

0016-2361/$ see front matter Published by Elsevier doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2008.11.017 * Corresponding author. Present address: LMC-IQ, 4478, CEP 70919-970, Brasilia-DF, Brazil. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (P.A.Z. Suarez (S.Z. Erhan). 1 The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in information and convenience of the reader. Such use d endorsement or approval by the United States Depa Agricultural Research Service of any product or service may be suitable. A diesel-like fuel, pyrodiesel (PD), was synthesized by a pyrolysis method using soybean oil as starting material. Some physical properties of the material were studied, both neat and in blends with high-sulfur (HSD) and low-sulfur (LSD) diesel fuels, and compared with blends of biodiesel (BD) in fossil fuels. It was observed using different methods that the lubricity of biobased fuels obtained after the transesterification or pyrolysis of soybean oil is superior to LSD and HSD and also that the lubricity of diesel fuels are enhanced when either BD or PD are added. Based on the results reported herein, PD is a viable alternative to BD for use in compression-ignition engines. Published by Elsevier Ltd.