Glycerol acetals as anti-freezing additives for biodiesel

Glycerol acetals from butanal, pentanal, hexanal, octanal and decanal were prepared with the use of Amberlyst-15 acid resin as catalyst. The glycerol conversion decreases with the size of the hydrocarbon chain. This fact has been associated with formation of micelles and aggregates of the aldehyde to minimize the interaction between the polar glycerol molecule with the hydrocarbon chain. The Z + E mixture of the acetals with five and six-member rings were produced in all cases. The distribution of the acetal isomers varied with the reaction time, especially for the long chain aldehydes. Addition of 5 vol.% of the butanal–glycerol acetal reduced the pour point of animal fat biodiesel (methyl ester) from 18 to 13 °C. The decrease in the pour point of the glycerol acetals-biodiesel mixtures were dependent on the size of the hydrocarbon chain and the percent blended.