DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/jksa.29.7.441-451

Comparative Study of Volatile Compound Profiles and Fuel Properties of Diesel Blends with Cymbopogon nardus and Cymbopogon citratus Essential Oils as Natural Bioadditives

1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Jember, Jember, East Java 68121, Indonesia

2Pusat Pengembangan Sumber Daya Manusia Minyak dan Gas Bumi (PPSDM MIGAS), Cepu, Blora, Central Java, Indonesia

Received: 20 Apr 2026; Revised: 4 Jul 2026; Accepted: 6 Jul 2026; Published: 31 Aug 2026.
Open Access Copyright 2026 Jurnal Kimia Sains dan Aplikasi under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.

Citation Format:
Diesel Fuel Enhancement Using Cymbopogon nardus and Cymbopogon citratus Essential Oils as Bioadditives: A Comparative Study on Volatile Compound Profiles and Fuel Properties
Abstract

The development of environmentally friendly bioadditives has attracted growing attention for improving diesel fuel quality. This study comparatively investigated the role of oxygenated compounds in essential oils from Cymbopogon nardus and Cymbopogon citratus as natural bioadditives. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and characterized for yield, moisture content, density, kinematic viscosity, and volatile compound composition using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The essential oils were then blended with diesel fuel at five additive concentrations (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0% (v/v)), with neat diesel (0% (v/v)) serving as the control. The resulting blends were evaluated for density, kinematic viscosity, distillation characteristics, and ignition quality, as indicated by the Calculated Cetane Index (CCI). The results revealed that C. citratus essential oil contained a higher proportion of oxygenated compounds than C. nardus. The optimal bioadditive concentration was determined to be 0.8% (v/v) for C. nardus and 0.6% (v/v) for C. citratus, based on a balance between statistically significant CCI improvement and maintaining density and kinematic viscosity within diesel fuel specifications. At these optimal concentrations, the CCI increased from 45.5 for neat diesel to 46.3 for C. nardus and to 46.9 for C. citratus, respectively, while density and kinematic viscosity remained within diesel fuel specifications. These findings suggest that variations in essential oil composition may contribute to the observed differences in fuel properties and support the potential use of essential oils rich in oxygenated compounds as sustainable bioadditives for diesel fuel applications.

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Keywords: bioadditive; diesel fuel; essential oil; calculated cetane index

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Section: Research Articles
Language : EN
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