Abstract
Due to the concern on the availability of recoverable fossil fuel reserves and the environmental problems caused by the use those fossil fuels, considerable attention has been given to biodiesel production as an alternative to petrodiesel. However, as the biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils and animal fats, there are concerns that biodiesel feedstock may compete with food supply in the long-term. Hence, the recent focus is to find oil bearing plants that produce non-edible oils as the feedstock for biodiesel production. In this paper, two plant species, soapnut (Sapindus mukorossi) and jatropha (jatropha curcas, L.) are discussed as newer sources of oil for biodiesel production. Experimental analysis showed that both oils have great potential to be used as feedstock for biodiesel production. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) from cold pressed soapnut seed oil was envisaged as biodiesel source for the first time. Soapnut oil was found to have average of 9.1% free FA, 84.43% triglycerides, 4.88% sterol and 1.59% others. Jatropha oil contains approximately 14% free FA, approximately 5% higher than soapnut oil. Soapnut oil biodiesel contains approximately 85% unsaturated FA while jatropha oil biodiesel was found to have approximately 80% unsaturated FA. Oleic acid was found to be the dominant FA in both soapnut and jatropha biodiesel. Over 97% conversion to FAME was achieved for both soapnut and jatropha oil.
Highlights
The use of edible vegetable oils and animal fats for biodiesel production has recently been of great concern because they compete with food materials
Biodiesel produced from the transesterification of soapnut oil was analyzed to determine FA composition
The overall fatty acid content in jatropha biodiesel was comparable with the results reported by Gubitz et al [20]
Summary
The use of edible vegetable oils and animal fats for biodiesel production has recently been of great concern because they compete with food materials. As the demand for vegetable oils for food has increased tremendously in recent years, it is impossible to justify the use of these oils for fuel use purposes such as biodiesel production. These oils could be more expensive to use as fuel. The study showed that the average oil contents in jatropha curcas L. at the elevation ranges of 400-600m, 600-800m and 8001000m were 43.19%, 42.12% and 30.66% of their seed weight respectively. The jatropha seeds were collected from the elevation range of 1200-1400m
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