ABSTRACT
Increasing scarcity of fossil resources, increasing demand
for petroleum fuels as well as increasing detrimental effects of
extracting and using fossil fuels suggests alternatives. Biodiesel is a
renewable, environmentally friendly, socially acceptable,
technologically feasible and economically viable alternative fuel for
diesel engines.
This study investigates the comparative
characterization of biodiesels produced by transesterification from
Jatrpha curcas and Thevetia nerifolia seed oil using ratio 1:5, 1:6, and
1:7 of methanol and oil and base catalyst (NaOH), at temperature of
60oC.
The percentage oil and biodiesel yield and the physco-chemical
properties (PH, specific gravity, viscosity and flash point) of the
methyl ester biodiesels were determined. The values of the biodiesel
properties obtained were compared with America (ASTM) and European (EN)
biodiesel standard. The data was analyzed using Randomized Complete
Block Design (RCBD).
The result of this study shows that reaction
ratio 1:5 has the highest biodiesel yield of 91%, 82% and 70% from
Jatropha, Thevetia and the mixture respectively. There is a significant
difference in the biodiesel yield among the three oil sources. The flash
point increases with increase in the specific gravity of the
biodiesels. The highest and lowest viscosity value (mm2/s) of 6.44 and
1.2 was recorded for mixture (1:7) and Jatropha (1:7) respectively. The
biodiesel with the highest and lowest viscosity value and the biodiesels
from thevetia (1:6 and 1:7) do not meet the ASTM and EN specifications
which ranges between 1.9-6.0 and 3.5-5.0 respectively. Others meet the
ASTM Specification (Table 4 and 5). Finally, the result of this study
shows that Jatropha curcas and Thevetia nerifolia are good potential
sources of oil for biodiesel production.