Comparative Analysis of Biodiesel Production from Five Varieties of Castor Beans
Julius Kewir Tangka *
Energy and Machinery, Renewable Energy laboratory, Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Dschang, Cameroon, Africa.
Djousse Kanouo Boris Merlain
Agricultural Engineering, Renewable Energy laboratory, Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Dschang, Cameroon, Africa.
Dontsa Tsafack Bertold Donald
Farm Power and Machinery, Agricultural Engineering, Renewable Energy laboratory, Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Dschang, Cameroon, Africa.
Max Croft
4Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Kentucky – USA.
Vincent Kitio
Chief, Urban Energy Unit, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN HABITAT), Niarobi, Kenya.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
A comparative study was conducted to estimate biodiesel productivity of five varieties of castor beans: Ricinus communis zanzibariensis {white black} (castor 1), Ricinus communis sanguineus (castor 2), Ricinus communis carmencita (castor 3), Ricinus communis zanzibariensis {dark black} (castor 4) and Ricinus communis {black Tanzania}(castor 5). The castor beans were preheated to a temperature between 22 and 33 ° C and then pressed with a manual hydraulic press, under 170 bars. The oil obtained was subjected to the transesterification reaction with methanol (99.98% pure) in a proportion of 5: 1 in the presence of sodium hydroxide as a catalyst (10,672g) for 02 hours at temperature between 60 and 70 °C. Purification was performed by reacting the methyl ester formed with heated water (55 °C) and acetic acid. The density, the kinematic viscosity at 21 ° C and the proportion of residual soap were determined later. The results for five castor varieties showed that the oil yields varied from 24 to 26.96 %; the volume of methyl ester was higher with castor 4 and lower with castor 5 but there was no significant difference in the biodiesel yields. Castor 2 has the best yield of biodiesel (93.5%), followed by castor 5 (92.5%), castor 3 (91%), castor 1 (90.75 %) and castor 4 (90%). Therefore castor oil 2 has a better potential for biodiesel production.
Keywords: Castor, biodiesel, Cameroon, methyl ester, transesterification, kinematic viscosity.