Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access
ISSN: 2090-4541
ISSN: 2090-4541
Adewale Adewuyi
Redeemer′s University, Nigeria
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl
With the depletion of oil resources as well as the negative environmental impact associated with the use of fossil fuels; selfsufficiency in energy requirement is critical to the success of any developing economy. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. Presently, over 70% of the population of the people in Africa lives in rural areas where there are resources for agriculture. Gliricidia sepium and Baphia nitida are two underutilized plants in Nigeria; they are planted as a shade tree. Their seeds are discarded as waste in Nigeria creating a waste disposal problem. Biodiesel was produced from the oils of these underutilized seeds using a two-step reaction system. The first step is a pretreatment which involved the use of 2% sulphuric acid in methanol and secondly, transesterification reaction using KOH as catalyst. The result of the method applied showed a conversion of ester content above 98% with phosphorus content below 1 ppm while the copper strip corrosion test was 1A in both biodiesel. The oil of Gliricidia sepium and Baphia nitida with high free fatty acid can be reduced in a one-step pretreatment of esterification using H2SO4 as catalyst. This one-step pretreatment reduced the problem of soap formation normally encountered when using oil with free fatty acid for the production of biodiesel, thus reducing the production cost of the Gliricidia sepium and Baphia nitida biodiesel. The biodiesel produced from the oil of Gliricidia sepium and Baphia nitida exhibited properties that are in agreement with the recommended European standard (EN 14214). walexy62@yahoo.com