Volumetric and viscometric properties of a binary mixture of a model diesel compound with a biobased additive

Introduction and background As a consequence of ongoing regulations to avoid the depletion of fossil fuels as well as environmental concern about their use, renewable sources have gained increasing attention during the past two decades. Among them are biofuels, having biodiesel an increasing prominence. One of the grand challenges of the biodiesel industry is to manage the surplus of glycerol generated as a by-product of its manufacturing process, whose price has steeply decreased in the past years [1]. Among the routes to exploit such compound, its chemical valorisation is on the spot as a way to obtain valueadded products [2]. Among them are acetals, which derive from the reaction of glycerol with an aldehyde or ketone. Solketal (Sk) is the acetal that has attracted the most attention in terms of research [3], for its synthesis is made through the reaction of glycerol with widely available acetone [4]. Sk has proven its relevance as additive to fuels and biofuels by improving certain performance parameters [5-7]. Data on properties of fuels is important to the design of engines, due to the effect that they have on the combustion quality. Therefore, the determination of volumetric and viscometric properties is of relevance. N-hexadecane (also known as cetane) has typically been employed as a compound to model the behavior of diesel [8], so considering that Sk is a promising additive, this work intends to present the volumetric and viscometric properties of binary mixtures consisting of cetane and solketal.