Production of biodiesel from pinus roxburghii oil and its evaluation

Biodiesel fuel is an alternative and renewable source of energy. It may help to reduce air pollution and our dependence on fossil fuel for energy. In this study the plant oil was extracted from saw dust of pine tree using methanol as a solvent and acid catalyst (H2SO₄) was used for transesterification. The effect of reaction time, temperature and catalyst ratio was studied, which presented that the high yield of biodiesel is produced by using 9 mL of catalyst for 1 h reaction time. The physicochemical properties such as density, viscosity, heating value, cetane index, flash point, Conradson carbon residue and distillation behavior of the obtained biodiesel were determined. The results showed that the final fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) product meets with the biodiesel quality standards, and ASTM specification D6751-02. The UV-Visible and FT-IR spectroscopic studies was also performed, which revealed that the synthesized biodiesel consists of aliphatic, olifinic and aromatic hydrocarbons along with fatty acids.