Investigation of Patchouli oil as a prospective source of biodiesel
Production of biodiesel from vegetable oils has attracted a great deal of interest as substitutes for petroleum-based conventional diesel fuel to reduce dependence on imported petroleum and provide a fuel with more benign environmental properties. Historically, biodiesel has been prepared from numerous edible vegetable oils such as canola (rapeseed), cottonseed, palm, peanut, soybean and sunflower oils. However, non-edible vegetable oils are attracting more attention than edible oils due to the concern on food versus fuel and other environmental issues. Patchouli oil is one of these non-edible feedstocks. The plant is native to tropical regions of Asia, and is now extensively cultivated in China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam as well as West Africa. In this study, biodiesel production from Patchouli vegetable was reported and investigated for the first time. The oil was obtained from Bandar Aceh, Indonesia. Patchouli oil was found with a free fatty acid content of 12.643％ which is far above the 2％ recommended for the application of the one step alkaline transesterification method. Therefore, a two-step acid-base catalyzed transesterification has been used to produce biodiesel. The determined properties of Patchouli methyl ester fell within the recommended biodiesel standards. This indicates that this oil can be considered as a future biodiesel source.
Biodiesel Non-edible oils Patchouli oil Esterification Transesterification Free fatty acids Physico-chemical properties
A.E. Atabani A.S. Silitonga H.C. Ong T.M.I. Manila H.H. Masjuki Irfan Anjum Badruddina
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
国际会议
大连
英文
90
2012-05-28（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）