Production of Biodiesel from Jatropha curcas Seed Oil

Maha A. A. Abdelrahman; Atif A. A. Yassin; Ismail Hassan Hussein; Mohamed E.S. Mirghani; Abdallah B. Karama

Maha A. A. Abdelrahman National Oilseed Processing Research Institute (NOPRI), University of Gezira
Atif A. A. Yassin National Oilseed Processing Research Institute (NOPRI), University of Gezira
Ismail Hassan Hussein National Oilseed Processing Research Institute (NOPRI), University of Gezira
Mohamed E.S. Mirghani International Islamic University Malaysia, Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Abdallah B. Karama Karary University, Khartoum, Sudan.

Abstract

This study was carried out to produce biodiesel from freshly harvested Jatropha curcas (J. curcas) seed oil. J. curcas seed oil has a high oil content (40%), the free fatty acids (FFA) range is (1.6-1.75%), peroxide value is 2.6 meq/kg, oil moisture content range is (0.2-0.3%) and saponification value range is (185-189) mg KOH/g oil. The main fatty acids are oleic 39.60 % and linoleic acids 34.64 %, unsaturated fatty acids in J. curcas oil are 75.54 wt%, while, saturated fatty acids are 24.46 wt%. The specifications of biodiesel produced are; Density is reduced from 0.9198 to 0.8810 g/cm³. The kinematic viscosity at 40 ^oC was reduced from 36.37 to 4.809 mm²/s, and the flash point is 187^oC. Biodiesel produced complies with the requirements of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard D6751-09, and the Committee of Standardization in Europe (CEN) standard EN 14214 specifications.