Technical evaluation of a glycerol-based automotive cooling fluid

Nowadays, the vast majority of cooling fluid for automotive engines is composed of monoethyleneglycol, water and corrosion inhibitors. The increasing amount of glycerol from biodiesel production, combined with its propitious physical-chemical properties in aqueous solutions, make this co-product a potential substitute of monoethyleneglycol in automotive coolant systems. This study evaluated the technical viability of this substitution through laboratory tests, heat transfer performance tests on dynamometer (ATB) and field durability test.