Optimization, Transesterification and Analytical Study of Rhus typhina Non-Edible Seed Oil as Biodiesel Production

Inam Ullah Khan,Zhenhua Yan,Jun Chen

doi:10.3390/en12224290

Abstract

Production of biodiesel from non-edible oils is one of the effective methods to reduce production costs and alleviate the obstacle of traditional raw material supply. Rhus typhina L. (RT) is a promising non-edible plant because it grows fast and has abundant seeds. But previously reported oil content of RT was only 9.7% and 12%. Further research into improving the biodiesel production of RT seed oil is urgently needed. Here we obtained the biodiesel production of RT with a maximum oil content of 22% with a low free fatty acid content of 1.0%. The fatty acid methyl ester (FAMEs) of the RT seed oil was produced by a standard optimized protocol use KOH as a catalyst with the highest yield of 93.4% (w/w). The quality and purity of RT FAMEs, as well as the physio-chemical characterizations of the biodiesel products, were investigated and compared with the international standard of ASTM D6751 and EN 14214. The values of fuel properties are comparable with mineral diesel and environmentally friendly. Overall, the proposed RT seed oil could be a potential source of raw materials for producing high-quality biodiesel after the optimization and transesterification.

Highlights

The speedy reduction of traditional diesel oil resources, as well as the environmental problems epitomized by global warming, has led to a worldwide demand for renewable energy [1]
Seed collection at the right time, proper pre-treatment of seeds, use of petroleum ether as the extraction solvent and environmental conditions have a significant role in obtaining the high oil contents
Since the lower percentage of FFAs in the oil is the significant point to process direct transesterification of Rhus typhina L. (RT) seed oil, this data indicates that petroleum ether is the best solvent for extracting oil from RT seeds because it provides high yields of oil and less FFAs

Summary

Introduction

The speedy reduction of traditional diesel oil resources, as well as the environmental problems epitomized by global warming, has led to a worldwide demand for renewable energy [1]. It is estimated that biodiesel/bioethanol can replace about 10% of diesel consumption in Europe and 5% of total fuel demand in Southeast Asia [3,4]. Biodiesel, named fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), was derived from triglycerides, which are produced from vegetable oils and animal fats with a variety of lipid parameters [5]. The base-catalyzed transesterification reaction can converts triglycerides to methyl ester in shorter reaction times with high efficiency [4,6,7]. This method has been widely used in the production of biodiesel fuel

Methods

Results

Conclusion