PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL FROM WILD GRAPE'S SEED (Lannea Microcarpa, Local Name: Faru)

Abstract

Biodiesel is becoming an increasingly important alternative source of energy in the world. The use of biodiesel will reduce the use of fossil fuels, thereby minimizing the emission of green house gases. The use of biodiesel will also lead to environmentally friendly, sustainable and viable sources of energy, which will reduce the dependency on depleting fossil fuels. Oil from wild grape's seed (lannea microcarpa, local name: Faru) was extracted using soxhlet extractor with normal hexane as solvent. The oil was transesterified with methanollic using sodium hydroxide as catalyst. The percentage yield of the oil was 41% and that of the biodiesel obtained was 79.80% The fuel properties of the oil and its methyl ester were evaluated for flow and heat characteristics. The results shows that, the moisture content, ash content, acid value, saponification value, pour point, density and viscosity of the biodiesel obtained are: 1.0, 1.5, 5.61, Nil, 0-7, 0.88, 12.6 respectively. These were compared with ASTM (American Society for Testing Material) and USNSDB (United State National Soya-Diesel Board) standards. The result obtained from GC/MS analysis of the biodiesel showed that, the predominant fatty acid methyl esters were oleic acid methyl ester, hexadecanoic acid methyl ester, eicasonoic acid methyl ester and butanoic acid-3-hydroxy ethyl ester. The physico-chemical properties were very close to those of diesel fuel and hence can be used as alternative fuel for diesel engines and thus it is recommended that more research effort should be directed to improve on this research.