Plant Oil is derived directly from naturally grown products and can only be used in modified diesel engines. This is commonly made from Rape Seed Oil in Ireland. Normal diesel engines must be modified so that the oil is heated to about 600C before it can combust properly in the engine; this is due to the higher viscosity and molecular weight, lower cetane number and the higher flashpoint of the oil.
Independent Laboratory Ltd has long established itself as Ireland’s leading oil testing laboratory. With the recent market pressures for developing green fuels there has been a number of small to medium sized producers of Pure Plant Oil coming to the fore; we are evolving to become analytical experts in this related field, to provide the industry with the legitimacy of Independent testing.
Quality control is a vital aspect of production in all areas of manufacturing and development, but it’s even more significant in a new fledgling industry. Our speciality not only lies in performing these tests and comparing them to DIN 51605 standards (RK standard replacement) but also in interpreting why an oil is perhaps outside given parameters and what alterations can be made to the process to correct the anomaly. Regular testing will assuage users’ fears of this new product and increase their willingness to use this product.
Through individual consultation we offer each of our clients a tailor-made service to best suit their need; we can simply provide regular analysis or become more involved in the production, undertaking site visits to help troubleshoot any problems. We can offer anything from batch testing consisting of only 3 tests to more detailed testing. We cannot currently perform all of the tests on the DIN 51605 specification sheet and, similarly to the U.K. laboratories, we would need to subcontract one or two of the tests to larger laboratories on the continent at the moment.
Every client’s results will be stored and over time a database of test results will be compiled, this can be very useful for spotting trends when problems arise.