Methyl esters (biodiesel) from Pachyrhizus erosus seed oil

ABSTRACT

The search for additional or alternative feedstocks is one of the major areas of interest regarding biodiesel. In this paper the fuel properties of Pachyrhizus erosus (commonly known as yam bean or Mexican potato or jicama) seed oil methyl esters were investigated by methods prescribed in biodiesel standards and comprehensively reported. As a result of the elevated content of saturated fatty acid methyl esters, the cloud point is high, the fatty acid methyl esters obtained from P. erosus seed oil generally meet fuel property specifications in the American and European biodiesel standards ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) D6751 and EN 14214, respectively, including a high cetane number.

KEYWORDS:

• Biodiesel
• fuel properties
• Pachyrhizus erosus
• methyl esters
• transesterification

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Kevin R. Steidley for excellent technical assistance, Kim Ascherl for ICP analysis and Dr. Karl Vermillion (all of USDA/ARS/NCAUR) for obtaining the NMR spectrum and the Philippine Higher Education Network of the Philippines' Commission on Higher Education (CHED-PhERNet) for a research grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.