PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THERMAL PROPERTIES OF ALMOND SEED (Prunus Dulcis) OIL.

Abstract

Environmental effect of using fossil fuels has been recognized world-wide. These fuels are the main sources of energy in transportation sector and their exploration and exploitation processes create serious environmental and health hazards. These hazards can be reduced by using alternative fuels such as biodiesel which is biodegradable, nontoxic and eco-friendly. Therefore, in this work, biodiesel is produced from a non-edible almond seed oil and it is characterized for energy properties. Almond seed (Prunus Dulcis) was extracted using the n-Hexane solvents. The oil- bearing seeds was cleaned, sun dried and further pulverized into powder using mortar and pestle. The production of biodiesel was done in two phases; Transesterification phase, and the separation and washing phase. The raw oil was extracted using the Soxhlet Extractor and the physiochemical characterization was done. Result obtained for the physical properties of the oil for both extracted and transesterified oil were: Refractive Index (1.464 and 1.462), Viscosity (33.62 mm 2 /s and 21.85mm 2 /s), Pour Point (-9 C), Cloud Point (-3 C), Smoke Point (130 C), Fire Point (220 C), Flash Point (172 C) and Specific Gravity (0.981 and 0.928) respectively. Their chemical characteristics for both extracted and transesterified oil were: Saponification Value (169.76 mgKOH/g and 79.71 mgKOH/g), Iodine Value (58.98 gI 2 /g and 34.33 gI 2 /g), Cetane Number (65.18 and 107.04), Ester Value (163.68 mgKOH/g and 77.66 mg/g), free fatty acid value (3.04 mg/g and 1.03 mg/g), peroxide value (2.15 mg/g), Higher Heating Value (41.49 MJ/kg and 45.65 MJkg), pH value (4.80 and 6.70) and acid value (6.08 mgKOH/g and 2.05 mgKOH/g). The results were compared with the European Biodiesel standard (EN 14214) and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards (ASTM D 6751). Transesterified almond seed oil has chemical properties that can enable it to function as biodiesel in IC diesel engines. Since the properties of biodiesel from almond seed oil meet the standard for biodiesel, it can be used as alternative fuel in diesel engines.