To identify and develop alternative and renewable sources of fuel for the transport sector is a present challenge for engineers and researchers. This work was carried out to assess yield of marula (Sclero carrya/birrea) nut and chemical properties of crude marula nut oil for biodiesel production in Botswana. Chemical extraction of marula oil was done to establish actual oil content by use of he...

The need to replace petroleum fuels with alternatives from renewable and more environmentally sustainable sources is of growing importance. Biomass-derived biofuels have gained considerable attention in this regard, however first generation biofuels from edible crops like corn ethanol or soybean biodiesel have generally fallen out of favor. There is thus great interest in the development of met...

The price of feedstock is one of the most significant factors affecting the economic viability of biodiesel manufacturer. Many approaches were investigated to reduce the biodiesel production cost. The present work gave a preliminary study of two approaches to economically produce biodiesel from waste cooking oil (WCO) and flaked cottonseed. One was the use of ultrasound-assisted synthesis of bi...

Increased cost of common feedstuffs and increased availability of coproducts from plant-based biofuel manufacturing has enhanced interest in the use of these coproducts in rations for dairy cattle (Donkin and Doane, 2007). Glycerol (commonly marketed as crude glycerine with a glycerol content of approximately 80%) is a coproduct produced during biodiesel production from soybean oil and is becom...

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been widely used to analyze various pathways of biofuel preparation from "cradle to grave." Effects of nitrogen supply for algae cultivation and technology of algal oil extraction on life cycle fossil energy ratio of biodiesel are assessed in this study. Life cycle fossil energy ratio of Chlorella vulgaris based biodiesel is improved by growing algae under nitrog...

In this paper we discuss the influence of chemical structures of renewable feedstock oils (RFOs) on the domains of existence and the nano-structures of microemulsions. We compare the results to those of classical microemulsions containing classical n-alkanes. First, the domains of microemulsions obtained from the melt of water, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant, 1-pentanol as co-surfac...

A simple, fast, and complete route for the production of methylic and ethylic biodiesel from tucum oil is described. Aliquots of the oil obtained directly from pressed tucum (pulp and almonds) were treated with potassium methoxide or ethoxide at 40°C for 40 min. The biodiesel form was removed from the reactor and washed with 0.1 M HCl aqueous solution. A simple distillation at 100°C was carried...

The goal of this study is to reduce the production cost of biodiesel, so we used non edible oil (castor seeds oil) which has a unique structure; suitable for biodiesel production and has lower cost compared to other biodiesel from other vegetable oils. Reactive extraction via ultrasonicassisted process was used offering the potential for shorter reaction times, cheaper reagents and less insigni...

The increasing vehicular population causing consumption of petroleum fuels at a faster rate and causes increase in the danger of petroleum fuels depletion and the remarkable increase in high crude oil prices. The increasing consumption of petroleum products has been a matter of great concern for the country for the financial growth as well as environmental pollution abatement. The situation off...

Biodiesel is a clean burning alternative renewable fuel made from natural renewable sources. It is defined as mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, which conform to ASTM specifications for use in diesel engines. Biodiesel present a very promising alternative fuel to diesel oil and properties of this oil offer the advantage of immediate substitut...