EN 14214

[ece]

EN 14214

Is anyone familiar with this spec? It is the European spec for biodiesel. The ASTM spec for free and total glycerol is 0.240% (2,400 ppm). However, the EN14214 spec is 0.8% for monoglycerides, 0.2% for diglycerides, 0.2% for triglycerides, 0.02 for free glycerol, and then it says the total glycerol spec is 0.250%.

Can anyone explain why the total is less than the sum of mg, dg, and tg? Or why it is less than just the mg? Can anyone also explain why the mg spec (0.8%) is so forgiving?

Usually I see the monoglycerides are the last to break down into alkyl esters, but usually the highest I see is 0.2-0.3%. If you were to have no dg, tg or free glycerol you could have 0.8% unreacted mg?

I would think the European standard would be more stringent than the American standard...

[AZBiodiesel]

theres no way thats right, i would think it is .08, .02 etc. Because I usually have a mono peak that is no higher than .1%, but remember there are multipliers that go along with the calculations of the glycerides, astm quotes
these

(0.2591)*(Sum of monoglycerides mass)
(0.1488)*(Sum of Di's)
(0.1044)*(Sum of Tri's)

i haven't looked at the EN method but i would guess those high numbers have been multiplied by factors similar to those above.

[ece]

AZ, I found this out on the sly. Actually, it is correct. B/c when you are adding up monos, dis and tris, according to the formula in our ASTM standard we are only adding up the glycerol backbone portion of the monos, dis and tris. Those numbers are the ratio of glycerol's molecular weight to to typical mono, di and tri molecular weights (oleic). So 0.8% monos would correspond to 0.207% glyceride portion of the monoglycerides.

In the european spec, they only account for the 0.2591, 0.1488 and 0.1044 when they add up the total glycerides. They simply have a separate spec for each total mono, di, and tri glyceride. I ran the numbers on some old biodiesel samples I had that past ASTM and would pass the free and total glycerol portion of the EN standard, but would fail for individual diglycerides. So in a way their test is more stringent.

Also, if you're running bd in your gc you're usually going to have more than one mono peak on a typical biodiesel sample....definitely.

[AZBiodiesel]

yeah i meant to say my monoolein/monolinolein peak is never above .1%, the monopalmitin and monostearin peaks are typically very small.

Yes the EN is more strict, I was talking to a member on one of the ASTM boards and he says there is a push to report %masses of the monos dis and tris for D6751.

Are you working in research or for a biodiesel producer?

[ece]

I work for a biodiesel producer in Northern California as a chemical engineer. But I do all the analytical work also. Who did you talk to at the ASTM board? Every year they say they're planning on revising the standard, but the wheels seem to turn very slowly there.

If you're only getting .1% monoolein, your fuel must be pretty good. Are you also a producer?

[AZBiodiesel]

I am in washington state and yes we are a biodiesel producer, Our lab is basically a one man show (me) because we have just started up. Our feedstock is wvo. We have met all our ASTM full spectrum tests and are currently selling.

I spoke with Jeff Fetkenhour at Gorge Analytical he is a board member, we use them to do the tests that I can't do in the lab. Basically we do all the criticals except total sulfur.

shoot me an email if you get the chance I'd like to talk further
cmdixon1@gmail.com.