Euonymus maackii Rupr. Seed oil as a new potential non-edible feedstock for biodiesel

Abstract

Abstract In this study, Euonymus maackii Seed oil (EMSO) was exploited and evaluated for the first time as a new non-edible oil feedstock for preparation of biodiesel. The EMSO yield was 41.06 ± 2.68 wt%. The fatty acid compositions of EMSO involved palmitoleic acid (2.01%), palmitic acid (14.5%), stearic acid (3.1%), oleic acid (49.8%), linoleic acid (29.3%), 11-Eicosenoic acid (0.1%) and arachidic acid (0.07%). Microwave-assisted transesterification with methanol provided a high conversion yield in short duration under low temperature. The 2.0 wt% of catalyst amount, 10:1 of methanol/oil molar ratio, 40 min of reaction time and 60 °C of temperature were found to be the optimum process conditions for the maximum biodiesel yield of 94.74 ± 2.09%. Using pseudo first-order kinetic model, the reaction rate constants were 2.145 × 102, 3.550 × 102 and 6.447 × 102 min−1 for 40, 50 and 60 °C, respectively. The thermodynamic property for biodiesel preparation was determined as activation energy = 47.67 kJ/mol. The fuel properties of the biodiesel product were evaluated and comparable to ASTM D-6751 and EN 14214 standards. Overall, this study revealed and confirmed the potential of Euonymus maackii seed oil as the appropriate alternative feedstock for biodiesel production.