TRANSESTERIFICATION OF HURA CREPITANS OIL FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION
O.O.
Oniya*, F.B. Akande,A.A. Adedeji and O.L. Olukayode
Department of Agricultural Engineering,
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo
State, Nigeria.
E-mail: toyinprayer@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT: This work
focused on the transesterification of Hura crepitans oil and the determination
of the suitability of the oil and its ethyl ester to power a diesel engine.
Hura crepitans oil was transesterified in a two step transesterification
process using ethanol and potassium hydroxide to produce ethyl ester
(biodiesel). The fuel properties of Hura crepitans oil and its ethyl ester were
determined and compared with that of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO). The results
showed that the biodiesel yield was 80.5% after transesterification. The flash
point, cloud point, pour point, specific gravity at 15 oC, viscosity
at 40 oC, heating value, acid value, ash content, sulphur content,
free fatty acid, peroxide value, iodine value and pH of the oil was obtained as
72.60 oC, 7.40 oC, 3.12 oC, 0.864, 2.870 mm2/s,
48.90 MJ/I, 19.074 MgKOH/g, 0.104%, 30.75%, 0.9588, 0.061 Meq/KOH, 0.940 wijis
and 3.50 respectively. The fuel properties of Hura crepitans biodiesel were
obtained as follows; specific gravity at 15 oC was 0.884, viscosity
at 40 oC was 3.420 mm2/s, acid value was 6.732 mgKOH/g,
peroxide value was 0.021 Meq/KOH, Sulphur content was 8.74%, cloud point was
75.10 oC, flash point was 94.60 oC, free fatty acid was
0.3304, pH was 3.30, heating value was 38.74 MJ/I. The result showed that Hura
crepitans biodiesel can be used to power a compression ignition engine.
