Opportunities for the use of chufa sedge in biodiesel production

•The most productive oil crop under the conditions of the Ukrainian Forest-Steppe is chufa sedge.•Chufa sedge oil may be used directly in biodiesel production.•Biodiesel produced from chufa sedge oil complies with the requirements of the standards in almost all properties.

As the production volume of biodiesel grows, conventional raw materials used in the production of biodiesel, such as rapeseed oil, are lacking, and other potentially oleaginous plants, the oil of which could be used for production of biodiesel, must be investigated. This article addresses opportunities for chufa sedge cultivation and presents the quality indicators for chufa sedge oil and the biodiesel derived from it. The results show that chufa sedge oil may be used directly in biodiesel production, and the biodiesel produced from chufa sedge oil complies with the requirements of the standards in almost all properties except for oxidation stability and cold filter plugging point. These indicators can be improved by adding the synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene and the synthetic depressant Wintron XC-30. This article presents the properties determined from the study of chufa sedge oil mixtures combined with mineral diesel fuel and conventional biodiesel fuel, with variation in the concentrations of the components. These mixtures comply with the requirements set for fuels.