Hura crepitans Seed Oil: An Alternative Feedstock for Biodiesel Production

Abstract

Oil was extracted from the seed of Hura crepitans using hexane in a soxhlet extractor and analyzed for iodine value, saponification value and free fatty acid content. The dominant fatty acid in the oil was C18:2 (52.8±0.10%) while the iodine value was 120.10±0.70 g iodine/100 g. Biodiesel was produced from the oil using a two-step reaction system involving a first step of pretreatment via esterification reaction and a second step via transesterification reaction. The pretreatment step showed that free fatty acid in Hura crepitans seed oil can be reduced in a one-step pretreatment of esterification using H2SO4 as catalyst. The biodiesel produced from Hura crepitans seed oil had an acid value of 0.21±0.00 mg KOH/g, flash point of 152 ± 1.10°C, copper strip corrosion value of 1A, calorific value of 39.10±0.30 mJ/kg, cetane number of 45.62±0.30, and density of 0.86±0.02 g cm−3. The process gave a biodiesel yield of 98.70±0.40% with properties within the recommended values of EN 14214.