Studies on the properties of Karanja oil for probable industrial application

Abstract

Biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester) which is derived from triglycerides by transesterification has attracted considerable attention during the past decade as a renewable, biodegradable and nontoxic fuel. Several processes for biodiesel fuel production have been developed, among which transesterification using alkali as catalyst gives high level of conversion of triglycerides to their corresponding methyl ester in a short duration. This process has therefore been widely utilized for biodiesel fuel production in a number of countries. In India, non-edible oils like karanja oil and jatropha oil are available in abundance, which can be converted to biodiesel. In the present studies, biodiesel has been prepared from karanja oil. As the acid values of this oil were more than 3, hence it can be converted to biodiesel by esterification followed by transesterification process. The methyl ester produced by these methods was analyzed to acertain their suitability as diesel fuels. Then the comparison of physicochemical properties was done karanja oil, karanja oil methyl ester and biodiesel. The various properties of methyl esters are found to be comparable with that of diesel fuel. However it requires further studies for considering the product as a suitable biodiesel.