Rubber seed oil as potential non-edible feedstock for biodiesel production using heterogeneous catalyst in Thailand

Abstract

This research present an alternative raw material of rubber seed which is non-edible crops as a source to produce oil for biodiesel production in Thailand. The rubber seed powder was extracted with hexane at room temperature to give rubber seed oil with the yield of 24 wt%. The composition and key properties of the extracted oil were analyzed including fatty acid compositions, density, kinematic viscosity, flash point, water content and acid value. This high FFAs oil (5.20 wt%) was successfully transesterified by various heterogeneous catalysts such as CaO-based waste coral fragment, sodium metasilicate and CaO-based eggshell to biodiesel in high yield and high %FAME of >97% in single step. Thermal stability of biodiesel obtained from rubber seed oil was evaluated by using thermogravimetric analysis and compared with petrol-diesel fuels. The biodiesel obtained from rubber seed oil was examined and found to meet the EN 14214 standard for bio-auto fuel.