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Production and Characterization of Biodiesel from Aphanamixis Polystachya Seed Oil

Sazia Ifteqar
Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

Rajia Sultana
Centre for Advanced Research in Sciences (CARS), University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

Sujit Banik
Institute of Fuel Research and Development, BCSIR, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh

A. F. M. Mustafizur Rahman*
Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The present study focuses on the utilization of non-edible Aphanamixis polystachya seed oil as a potential feedstock for the production of biodiesel. The extracted oil from non-edible seed could not be directly exploited for biodiesel production owing to its high free fatty acid (FFA) content of 5.785%, so acid catalyzed esterification was applied to reduce FFA of oil to zero followed by base-catalyzed transesterification to convert esterified product to its mono-esters. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the mass percentage corresponding to biodiesel under optimum conditions was 74.38%. The conversion of the triglycerides in the oil into biodiesel through transesterification was confirmed using FT-IR spectroscopy. The elemental analysis of the produced biodiesel was studied. The produced biodiesel had properties that were comparable with biodiesel standards and could be utilized as an alternative diesel fuel without any hardware modifications.

Keywords: Aphanamixis polystachya seed oil, Biodiesel, Acid-catalyzed esterification, Base-catalyzed transesterification

Location: Tongi, Gazipur, Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Resource Development and Management

Commodity: Bio-diesel

Objectives:

The present study also involves the extraction of oil from A. polystachya seeds using n-hexane as solvent and the optimized two-step esterification process for the production of biodiesel with improved fuel properties. This study also shows the detail structural, thermal, elemental and physicochemical characterization of the produced biodiesel.

Methodology:

A. polystachya seeds were collected from Mithila Seed Company, Tongi, Gazipur, Bangladesh. The seeds having an initial moisture content of 25.484 wt% were washed, cleaned and sun dried until they attained a moisture content of 6.71 wt%. The seeds were ground to fine powder using a mortar to utilize them for oil extraction. All the chemicals utilized in this research work were of analytical reagent grade. nHexane (96% pure) was purchased from Daejung Chemicals and Metals Company Limited, South Korea. Methanol (99.5% pure) and sulfuric acid (98% pure) were purchased from Merck KGaA, Germany. Potassium hydroxide pellets were purchased from Riedel-de Haen, United States.

Extraction of Oil from Seed Powder A. polystachya seed oil content in seed was determined by soxhlet extraction using n-hexane as solvent. About 50 gm of dried seed powder was taken in a porous bag. The bag was placed inside a soxhlet apparatus that was suspended above a 500 mL round-bottom flask containing about 250 mL of n-hexane and below a reflux condenser. The flask was heated with a 500 mL heating mantle (Glassco Laboratory Instruments, India). The extraction process was optimized by carrying out the extraction of oil at five different extraction times (30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 min) in order to achieve the highest oil percentage. At the end of the extraction period, the flask containing n-hexane and the oil were removed and the residual solvent and moisture were separated by distilling the oil-solvent mixture at the boiling point of n-hexane (68.7°C). After completion of distillation, the n-hexane recovered was further utilized for the extraction of oil. Dark brown viscous oil was obtained whose oil content is determined by the formula.

The elemental analysis of the biodiesel sample was performed using CHNS elemental analyzer (varioMicro V1.6.1, GmbH, Germany). The samples were weighed into a silver capsule and placed in the auto sampler carousel and analyzed for 800 s. The combustion and reduction temperature were 1150°C and 850°C, respectively. The flow rate of helium and oxygen were 200 mL/min and 14 mL/min, respectively. One drop of the produced biodiesel and the extracted oil were separately placed in the sample holder. The FT-IR spectra was obtained by FT-IR Spectrophotometer (Model: IRPrestige-21, Shimadzu Corporation, JAPAN) equipped with an Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) device in the wave number range 700– 4000 cm-1 with 20 scanning rate with resolution of 4 cm-1 . The FT-IR spectrum was taken in a transmittance mode. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of biodiesel was conducted in a TGA-50H Thermogravimetric Analyzer, Shimadzu, Japan from room temperature (25.67^oC) to 599.29 ^oC with a heating rate of 10^oC /min under nitrogen atmosphere with a flow rate of 10 mL/min. The fuel properties of A. polystachya oil and the produced biodiesel were determined using standard test procedures.

Source of Information: Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 68(2): 129- 136, 2020 (July)

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The present study was successful in investigating a low cost, high FFA feedstock for biodiesel production. The twostep process utilized for the production of biodiesel in the current research was successful in improving the properties of the extracted oil in terms of FFA content, viscosity, pour point, flash point, making the produced biofuel quite suitable as an alternative diesel fuel. The biodiesel was found to contain permissible amounts of sulfur and almost 0% moisture content. Although most of the properties were on par with international standards, the biodiesel was found to contain high carbon residue and to possess high nitrogen content and its calorific value was found to be 7% lower than the standard value. The high carbon residue is an indication of the presence of glycerol in the purified biodiesel. The presence of traces of methanol and glyceride residues was also detected by thermogravimetric analysis so further investigation on the purification process of the produced biodiesel should be carried out. Further research and development should be carried on additional fuel property measures, long-term run and wear analysis of biodiesel fueled engine.

Knowledge Management: Journal