Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences: Research Areas

Abstract:
Viability of African Pear (Dacryodes edulis) Seed-oil as a potential feedstock for biodiesel was examined. The yield of the extracted oil was 59% of the total seed. Gas-chromatographic analysis of the oil extract showed that the oil was predominantly constituted by mono-unsaturated fatty acid (Oleic acid, 76%) while the percentage of the saturated fatty acids was 24% (palmtic acid 6.1% ,Stearic acid 7.5% and others 10.4%). Pretreatment of the oil extract with 1% w/w H2SO4 showed tremendous reduction in the free fatty acid from 12.33�0.05 to 0.10 � 0.02mgKOH/g. Biodiesel yield of the seed oil attained optimum yields at the methanol/oil molar ratio of 7:1, catalyst concentration of 1.00%, reaction temperature of 60oC, agitation speed of 850rpm and effective contact time of 120min. However, the yields of the biodiesel were higher at these experimental conditions with homogeneous KOH catalyst than its NaOH counterpart. Fuel properties such as smoke point, flash point, fire point, viscosity and specific gravity exhibited by the biodiesel of African Pear (Dacryodes edulis) were comparable with those of the petrol- diesel and the values fall within the acceptable limits of ASTM and EN standards.

Keywords: african pear, acid pre-treatment, transesterication, fuel properties, biodiesel

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