A Study of Extraction Yield and Properties of Some Oil for Biodiesel Application

Abstract

A clear pattern in economic development indicates a heavy dependence on the availability of cheap transportation fuel. Given the finite nature, escalating cost and pollution effect of fossil fuel, continuous dependence on hydrocarbon fuel for accelerated economic developmentin the near and long term particularly in developing economies is unsustainable.  Biodiesel presentsa significant advantage as a viable alternative in this regard.  Experimentally and analytically exploring this advantage is imperative.  Soxhlet and soaking extraction processes were implemented with n-hexane, petroleum ether and distilled gasoline as solvent forJatropha and Moringa.  Subsequently, a series of physio-chemical tests were conducted on the oil.  A code to computethe equivalent heating value for the biodiesel/diesel blend was also executed to generate a simplified correlation for some common biodiesel.  Theresultsobtained largely agreed with the existing literature and provided useful insight for future works.