Synthesis of biodiesel from Garcinia gummi-gutta, Terminalia belerica and Aegle marmelos seed oil and investigation of fuel properties

ABSTRACT

This paper details the synthesis of fatty acid methyl ester (biodiesel) from Garcinia gummi-gutta, Terminalia belerica and Aegle marmelos seed oil through a transesterification process using sodium phosphate catalyst. The oils were characterized by gas chromatography analysis and the biodiesels were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The biodiesel fuel properties such as density, viscosity, flash point, copper strip corrosion, calorific value, pour point, acid value, free and total glycerol, cloud point, water and sediment, ash content, carbon residue, cetane number and oxidation stability were determined. Further, the biodiesel was blended with conventional diesel in different proportions and fuel properties like density, flash point and kinematic viscosity were determined for each blend and compared with conventional diesel.

KEYWORDS:

• Fatty acid methyl esters
• sodium phosphate
• fuel properties
• gas chromatography
• Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Acknowledgement

Authors acknowledge Mr. Earanna and Mr. Anjan Kumar for their support for extraction of oil and also acknowledge Biofuel Information and Demonstration Center, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumakuru-572103, Karnataka, India, for providing essential experimental setup to conduct this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.