Schleichera oleosa L oil as feedstock for biodiesel production

• Schleichera oleosa L oil as the potential resource for biodiesel production.
• The optimization using four different catalysts for transesterification process.
• The optimum ester yield obtained was 96 by KOH.
• The properties of Schleichera oleosa L biodiesel satisfied with ASTM D6751 specifications.

The non-edible oil from Schleichera oleosa possesses the potential as a feedstock for biodiesel production. In this study, the biodiesel production was performed using two-step transesterification process on a laboratory scale. The parameters studied were reaction temperature, molar ratio of methanol to oil, catalyst concentration, reaction time and catalysts type. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the methyl ester yield. The optimum conditions were obtained as follows: reaction temperature at 55 °C, methanol to oil molar ratio of 8:1, 1 wt.% of hydroxide catalyst (KOH and NaOH) and 1 wt.% methoxide catalyst (CH3OK and CH3ONa) for reaction time 90 min. Based from these optimum conditions, the observed ester yields from different catalysts were average 96%, 93%, 91% and 88% for KOH, NaOH, CH3OK and CH3ONa respectively as the catalyst. S. oleosa methyl ester (SOME) exhibited a satisfying oxidative stability of 7.23 h and high cetane number (50.6) compared to petrol diesel (49.7). Besides, SOME has good pour and cloud point of −3.0 °C and −1.0 °C respectively due to high unsaturated fatty chain. As a conclusion, this study reveals that biodiesel production from SOME, as one of non-edible feedstock, is able to be an alternative for petrol diesel. Moreover, the produced biodiesel from SOME could be used in diesel engine without major modification due to its properties and can be used in cold regions.

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