Biodiesel Production from Rubber Seed Oil using Lipase enzyme

Abstract

This study focused on the production of biodiesel from rubber seed oil (RSO) via enzymatic transesterification using lipase enzyme (Candida antarctical) immobilized on acrylic resin as catalyst. The reaction was carried out using 5g of RSO, 3% of the enzyme based on oil weight and 6 molar equivalents of alcohol. Methanol was used as alcohol and the reaction mixture was agitated on a water bath shaker at 150rpm for 50hr at 40oC. A 96.5% conversion was achieved. The RSO and the produced biodiesel were evaluated as fuel and compared with petroleum diesel according to their physical and chemical properties, such as specific gravity, saponification value, acid value, free fatty acid (FFA) value. Some of the results obtained showed that the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) has a specific gravity of 0.897, acid value of 0.657mgKOH/g, FFA value of 0.330mgKOH/g. The values obtained were well within the ASTM biodiesel Standard Limits. Comparisons with results of diesel fuel showed that the FAME has a relatively similar fuel property to diesel fuel which is an indication that transmethylation can improve the fuel properties of RSO. Keywords: Rubber seed oil, biodiesel, enzyme, fuel, transesterification.