Rheological and Some Fuel Properties of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters of the Oils of Palm, Palm Kernel and Groundnut

Abstract

Production and characterization of fatty acids methyl esters (FAME) from palm oil (PO), palm kernel oil (PKO) and groundnut oil (GNO) were carried out in this study. Optimal amount of NaOH catalyst required for the transesterification of the degummed and refined oils were determined. Some rheological and fuel quality parameters of the FAME obtained from batch transesterification of each oil, petrodiesel and their blends, were determined. The optimal catalyst weights obtained, based on oil, were 0.40, 0.48 and 0.56 (%wt/v) for GNO, PKO and PO, respectively. The FAME produced had viscosities of 4.45, 3.44, and 4.11mm2/s as compared to the 38.84, 37.51 and 36.92mm2/s obtained for the parent oils PO, PKO, and GNO, respectively. The measured viscosity of petrodiesel was 2.85mm2/s. Thermodynamic free energies of activation for flow (∆Gvis) for the FAME samples were 18.1, 13.4 and 14.7KJ/mol for PO, PKO, GNO, respectively, and 10.1KJ/mol for petrodiesel.