Potential vegetable sources for biodiesel producti

Authors: Jennifer Judith Lafont Amelia Andrea Espitia José Ricardo Sodré

Publish Date: 2015/01/27

Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-

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Abstract

This work presents a study on crude oil and biodiesel obtained from the seeds of the tropical plants Anacardium occidentale L cashew Cocos nucifera coconut palm and Gossypium hirsutum upland cotton The following crude oil and biodiesel physical–chemical properties were determined acid number iodine value copper corrosivity density and viscosity at different temperatures Also the chemical composition of the fatty acid methyl esters was measured using gas chromatography and a comparison was made with biodiesel from other sources reported in the literature The analysis pointed out that cashew coconut palm and upland cotton are potential sources for biodiesel production Among the biodiesel types tested cashew showed the highest oxidation stabilityThe world energy demand and environmental contamination have both increased throughout the years from the increase of global warming gases and particles suspension in the atmosphere The main reason is the use of fossil fuels as energy source for the development of industrial technological economical transport and agricultural activities among others 1 This situation produced the search for alternative and renewable energy sources such as biodiesel Biodiesel is a biofuel the chemical composition of which is a blend of alkyl esters produced together with glycerin from esterification or transesterification reactions of free fatty acids and triglycerides present in vegetable oils or animal fat 2Vegetable oils are the most studied ones for biodiesel production among them palm soybean rapeseed and sunflower 3 Other oleaginous plants have recently been considered for biodiesel production such as Anacardium occidentale L This is popularly known as cashew belonging to the Anacardiaceous group typical from tropical zone and it presents excellent nutritional and medical properties Its fruit contains A and C vitamins and it is used to elaborate juices The fruit is united to a pseudo fruit of gray color that has two types of oils one of them of black color is viscous and corrosive due to the presence of anacardic acids used as insect repellent The other is light amber with high concentration of fatty acids and it has started to be studied as a potential biodiesel source 4 The fatty acid composition of Anacardium occidentale L has previously been reported by 5 6Cocos nucifera is a palm tree commonly known as coconut belonging to the Arecaceae group It grows in tropical climate and humid atmosphere Its thin trunk can reach 20 m tall and its large fruit can have 20–30 cm of diameter with a fibrous skin inside which is the fruit of nut of oval shape light brown color and hollow that is filled with a juice during its growth This fruit is used to obtain oil and its juice is used in refreshing drinks 7 Previous work on coconut biodiesel has been presented by 5 8The Gossypium hirsutum known as upland cotton is a bush belonging to the malvaceae group that can achieve 2 m tall Its flowers are yellow and when fecundated change to pink After withering they turn into fruits which are capsules of 3–5 pistils with 6–10 seeds in each of them As the seeds are mature their epidermis generates the cellulosic fibers of cotton which are important textile products The seeds are also rich sources of oil and proteins with high industrial value 9 From these biodiesel sources cotton is the only one that has been extensively studied by many researchers among them 1 2 8 10 11 12 13This paper presents an analysis of the physical–chemical properties of the crude oil and biodiesel produced from the tropical plants Anacardium occidentale L Cocos nucifera and Gossypium hirsutum The properties evaluated are acid number iodine value copper corrosion density and viscosity The methyl esters present in each biodiesel type are also investigated to verify if those are real potential sources for highquality biofuel production This work aims at giving further insight on the quality of biodiesel produced from those sources considering that there is still a lack of information particularly for cashew and coconut

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