Fatty acid methyl and ethyl esters obtained from rare seeds from Tunisia: Ammi visnaga, Citrullus colocynthis, Datura stramonium, Ecballium elaterium, and Silybum marianum

ABSTRACT

This work aims to study the properties of fatty acid methyl and ethyl esters from Tunisian oils in order to assess their potential use as biofuel sources. The oils chosen for this study have been scarcely researched by other authors and are very interesting for a possible exploitation as fuels. Most of them are nonedible sources and all of them can be grown in arid places with no need of supplementary water: the bishop’s weed Ammi visnaga, the bitter apple Citrullus colocynthis, the stramonium Datura stramonium, the devil pickle Ecballium elaterium, and the milk thistle Silybum marianum.

KEYWORDS:

• Biofuels
• FAEE
• FAME
• rare oleaginous seeds
• Tunisia

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the graduate students Virginia Rebaque, Nuria Serrano, Lila Vázquez, and Inés García-Sáez for their technical help in this work.