HEMP BIOFUEL FOR AUTOMOTIVE TRANSPORT. UKRAINIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine takes a fourth place in the world in the technical hemp production and can use waste of hemp for biofuel (including biodiesel) production. This paper presents an analysis of cetane numbers and low-temperature properties of hemp biodiesels as well as spray and evaporation of these fuels. Two types of hemp biodiesel fuels are analyzed: Hemp Methyl esters, produced from hemp oil in Ukraine (HM1) and European Union (HM2). It was found that hemp biodiesel has smaller cetane number than traditional rapeseed or soy biodiesel. At the same time hemp biodiesel shows better low-temperature properties compared with traditional biodiesels. So, it was recommended to use the mixture of rapeseed or soy biodiesel with hemp biodiesel to optimise both the low-temperature properties and cetane number of fuel. According to modelling the spray parameters of hemp biodiesel are very close to those of soy biodiesel. Evaporation of hemp biodiesel is very close to soy biodiesel according to previous research. Therefore, mixture of soy/rapeseed and hemp biodiesels can be recommended for experimental investigation as a future fuel for Ukrainian market.