Biofuels Analysis

The predicted shortage of fossil fuel around the world has encouraged the search for substitutes for petroleum derivatives. This search resulted in an alternative fuel called "biofuel". Alfa Chemistry has been committed to find solutions to alternative energy issues, offering comprehensive testing services for the biofuel supply chain, which include raw biomass products analysis, components analysis, performance analysis, process optimization and development. State-of-the-art analytical equipment in Alfa Chemistry allows us to control the quality of fuel and verify the delivered biodiesel blend ratio, glycerin and pollutant content.

What Are Biofuels?

Biofuels, are a form of renewable energies derived from a wide variety of biomass products. It can be theoretically produced from any biological carbon source, though the most common by far is photosynthetic plants. Many different plants and plant-derived materials can be used for biofuel manufacturing. Biofuel industries are rapidly expanding worldwide and biofuels are most commonly applied to power vehicles and for generating heat.

Currently, there are two main forms of biofuels in the market: fuel ethanol and biodiesel (also called FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) in Europe). Fuel ethanol refers to the alcohol fuel converted from various biomass-based materials through the fermentation of microorganisms. Fuel ethanol can be used as a fuel directly, but most often it is blended with gasoline (at about 5-10%) to yield gasohol. Biodiesel is a substance in forms of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) obtained through transesterification of triglycerides (TG) in vegetable oils, animal oils and recycled restaurant grease. Its effectiveness is no different from that of ordinary diesel, but the major advantage of biodiesel is that the concentration of harmful gases produced during the combustion process is low.

Our Biofuels Analysis Services

In practical applications, some unconverted oil compounds left in biodiesels (such as TG, diglycerides (DG), monoglycerides (MG) and glycerin) can deposit in the engine, block filters, cause fuel degradation or form toxic emissions, thereby affecting the engine performance. Therefore, it is critical to develop sensitive and reliable analytical methods to monitor and quantify the concentration of these glycerides in various production stages. At present, various regulatory agencies have formulated many standards for biofuel products, including American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard D6751, D4815 and D4806, as well as European Union standards EN14105, EN 14214 and etc., which aim to control pollutants content and allow bioethanol and biodiesel to be blended into conventional fuels.

Alfa Chemistry provides:

• Running ASTM D6584 & EN 14105 for determination of free and total glycerol, mono-, di-, tri-glycerides in biodiesel.
• Analysis of components content of denatured fuel ethanol to meet ASTM D4815 standard specification
• Inspection of raw biomass products
• Process optimization and by-product testing
• Trace moisture testing
• Microbiological analysis
• Additive dosing and purification process treatment
• Customized preparation of biodiesel calibration standards and standards solutions
• Consultation on international standards (ASTM & EN) for biofuel analysis

Our Analytical Platform include:

• Gas Chromatography (GS)
• High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
• Ultraviolet–visible (UV-vis) and Near-infrared (NIR) Process Analyzer
• Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy
• Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC)
• ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (¹H NMR)
• Process Mass Spectrometer (MS)
• Moisture Analyzer
• And more …

Why Alfa Chemistry?

• Certification of biofuel components to ASTM and EN standards
• Professional scientists with technical expertise in the field of biofuels
• A comprehensive range of customized analytical services through our state-of-the-art facilities
• High-speed analysis of samples to make a fast process optimization and development
• Detailed report & reasonable cost

Ordering Process

Alfa Chemistry is strived to developing as a world leading provider of raw materials related to alternative energy industry. Whether your research or project focuses on biodiesel or ethanol fuel or other related biofuel areas, we have developed extensive manufacturing abilities and customer-oriented services to support every stage of the biofuel supply chain. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more detailed information about our biofuel analysis services, we will answer you as soon as possible.