Synthesis and characterization of biodiesel from Aamla oil: A promoting non-edible oil source for bioenergy industry

• Introduce new non edible oil yielding plant species (Phyllanthus emblica Linn.) for Bioenergy industry.
• The yield of extracted crude oil was equal to 37.22% of the total dry weight of seed.
• The free fatty acid contents i-e 4.12 mg KOH/g, reduced to 0.13 mg KOH/g by the process of esterification reaction.
• Solid base and magnetic oxide catalysts with various concentrations used to maximize the production yield.
• The analytical techniques i-e GC, 1H & 13C NMR, FT-IR and AAS spectroscopy were used for biodiesel quantification and characterization.
• Mathematically; the conversion percentage of oil to biodiesel was achieved 91.02% using 1H NMR spectroscopy.
• The physico-chemical tests were performed and found the values similar to the ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards.

In the present research work, non-edible oil source Aamla plant was systematically identified for biodiesel production. The extracted oil percentage was achieved by up to 37.22% of the total dry seed weight. The free fatty acid content of crude oil was reduced from 4.12 mg KOH/g to 0.13 mg KOH/g, using esterification before the synthesis of biodiesel. The highest conversion yields of biodiesel were achieved at 88.77 & 90.31%, respectively using solid base catalyst oxides. The protocol for experiments was adjusted as follows: temperature (60 °C); different catalysts with various concentrations, time of reaction (2 h), stirring velocity (600 rpm) and 1:6 oil molar ratios. Qualitatively, the prepared biodiesel was characterized by GC chromatography, 13C & 1H NMR, FT-IR and AAS spectroscopy. In terms of fuel properties, the kinematic viscosity, density, Cloud Point, Pour Point, Cold Filter Plugging Point, acid number, Flash Point and cetane number of prepared biodiesel, its 4 blends i.e. B5, B10, B15 & B20 and petro-diesel sample were tested and compared with ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards.