Pyrolysis of Sour Cherry Kernels: Physicochemical Characterization of Pyrolysis Oil in Blends of Diesel and n-butanol

Switching from conventional fuels to alternative renewable biofuels offers the possibility of significant reductions in the pollutant emissions of diesel engines. Biofuel can be obtained from biomass through pyrolysis. Although pyrolysis oil (PO) is a suitable alternative biofuel for diesel engines, the direct use of PO in diesel engine is limited due to its insufficient properties. To improve the properties of PO, it can be blended with conventional diesel using n-butanol as a co-solvent. In this study, PO was produced from sour cherry kernels (SCPO) by pyrolysis at optimum operating conditions which were: 450 ?C temperature, 0.5 L/min gas flow rate, 10 ?C/min heating rate, 15 min residence time and particle size as broken kernels. SCPO was blended with diesel using n-butanol. The miscibility of the blends was assessed by evaluating their homogeneity after 48 hours. The physicochemical properties of SCPO and the blends were measured. Results showed that it was possible to create homogeneous blends of SCPO and diesel using n-butanol. Blends showed reduced density, kinematic viscosity and water content, and increased cetane number, pH and calorific value as compared to SCPO. We concluded that diesel/SCPO/n-butanol blends could be a potential biofuel source for diesel engine applications.