Production of biodiesel from Terminalia catappa seed oil with high free fatty acids using an acid-catalyzed pretreatment step

摘要

Biodiesel was produced from the underutilized seed oil of Terminalia catappa using a two-step reaction system. The first step is a pretreatment process, which involved the use of 2% sulphuric acid in methanol, and the second step is a transesterification reaction using KOH as the catalyst. The results of the applied method showed a conversion that gave an ester content of above 97% with phosphorus content below 1 ppm in the biodiesel. The biodiesel produced from the oil of T. catappa exhibited properties that are in agreement with the recommended European standards (EN 14214) and American standards (ASTM D 6751-07b). This study supports the use of crude T. catappa as a viable and valuable raw feedstock for biodiesel production.