Preparation and evaluation of biodiesel from Egyptian castor oil from semi-treated industrial wastewater

• Castor oil represent good source of biodiesel.
• Transesterification performed to produce biodiesel.
• Produced biodiesel has standard specification compared to the petroleum diesel.
• Physical properties of obtained biodiesel comparable to the petroleum diesel.
• Blends of bio and petroleum diesels have efficient energy properties.

Biodiesel derived from Egyptian castor oil was prepared via the conventional base-catalyzed transesterification with methanol. Fatty acid profiles of castor oil and the obtained fuel properties of the biodiesel were analyzed and tested in accordance with the ASTM standards. Castor oil contains: > 6%, > 6%, > 8%, 82% of saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and hydroxy mono-saturated fatty acids, respectively. The present study reports the preparation of biodiesel from castor oil using sodium methoxide as a catalyst. The resultant biodiesel was evaluated for physic-chemical properties namely: Iodine value (82.7 g I2/100 g oil), cetane number (55.82), density (0.878 g/cm3), kinematic viscosity (40°C: 4.65 cSt; 100°C: 1.28 cSt), cloud point (0 °C), flash point (151 °C), fire point (156 °C), carbon residue (0.052 %), and ash residual (0.025%). The obtained biodiesel properties were compared with those of several biodiesels from different vegetable oils such as: sunflower, soybean and rapeseed oils and found to be comparable. The performance of the diesel engine was improved by blending regular diesel with 10 % biodiesel (B10). The brake specific fuel consumption was decreased using B10 blend. The brake thermal efficiency was also increased for B10 from 25% to 27.36%. The brake specific fuel consumption was increased for B10 blend compared to regular diesel. In general, Egyptian castor oil has been identified as the ideal feedstock for biodiesel production, and was found to be the promising feed stock for biodiesel production.

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