Synthesis and characterization of biodiesel from seeds of castor plant

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Chemistry, College of Science for Women, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.

Abstract

As fuel resources decline and global warming, the quest for a renewable, sustainable and more environmentally friendly fuel source continues. This article was aimed to extract the oil from castor plant seeds and use it in the production of its ester. Solvent extraction method was employed to produce castor oil from Iraqi castor plant seeds using hexane as solvent and yielded 23.800% .The chemical properties of hexane extract studied were: acid value, free fatty acid, saponification value, and iodine value of 0.885 mg KOH/g,0.445 mg KOH/g ,175 mg KOH/g,85 g I2/100g oil respectively. The physical properties of hexane extract reported were: density at 15 °C, viscosity at 40°C, refractive index of 961.200 kg M-3, 213.580 mm2/s , 1.4674 respectively. . Also, transesterification reaction of castor oil was applied to produce castor biodiesel using methanol and KOH as catalyst. The chemical properties of methyl ester of castor oil studied were: acid value, free fatty acid, saponification value, and iodine value of 1.038 mg KOH/g, 0.522 mg KOH/g, 183 mg KOH/g,87 g I2/100g oil respectively. The physical properties of its ester found were: density at 15 °C , viscosity at 40°C , refractive index of 906.160kg M-3, 17.244 mm2/s, 1.466 respectively. The castor oil and its methyl ester were characterized by utilizing FTIR and NMR spectroscopic techniques.

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