Available online at www.academicpaper.org Academic @ Paper ISSN 2146-9067 International Journal of Automotive Engineering and Technologies Vol. 4, Issue 4, pp. 193 – 200, 2015 Original Research Article Investigation of Echinops Kebericho Mesfin Seed Oil as a Biodiesel Production Feedstock: Opportunities From the Wilderness Mebrahtu Haile *1 , Hadgu Hishe 1 , Kidane Giday 1 , Samuel Tesfaye 1 1 Department of Land Resource Management and Environmental Protection, College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia Received 12 November 2015 Accepted 15 December 2015 Abstract The major energy sources of the world depend on coal, natural gasses and petroleum which are exhaustible and environmentally unfriendly. Biodiesel is a mono alkyl organic compound of long chain of fatty acids made of oil from plant oils and animal fats that make use of a catalyst and an alcohol, which may be utilized in traditional diesel engines to function as an option for petro-diesel or blended with petro-diesel to diminish emissions. Kebericho seed oil which is endemic to Ethiopia was studied with the objective of investigating as a possible raw material for biodiesel production in this work. The kebericho seed that was extracted at 40 °C exploiting n-hexane as solvent yielded 26.7 %w/w oil. The Crude kebericho seed oil was transesterified at 60 °C for 90 minutes using oil/methanol ratio of 1:6 and 1% weight of KOH as a catalyst, to supply its resultant methyl ester compound. The resultant Kebericho oil methyl ester yield was found 92%. The fatty acid profile determination was carried out using gas chromatographic analysis and Kebericho oil methyl ester showed that it had been largely composed of palmitic, stearic, linoleic, oleic and linolenic esters that are comparable to the profile of sunflower, safflower and soybean oil. The fuel properties of Kebericho oil methyl ester were determined using the international standard for pure biodiesel using ASTM standard and each of the measured Kebericho oil methyl ester fuel properties were satisfied the ASTM D6751 biodiesel standards. Results from this study have clearly suggested the capability of kebericho seed oil as a biodiesel feedstock. Besides, as kebericho is thought to be invasive in Ethiopia, such conceivable outcomes of creating biodiesel from such species could be considered as one future management option with potential noteworthy economic returns and environmental advantages. Key words: Invasive, Echinops kebericho Mesfin oil, transesterification, Purification, Biodiesel. * Correspond Author E-mail: mebrahtu.biodiesel2013@gmail.com