Rubber seed oil as a potential source for biodiesel production in Bangladesh Mahbub Morshed a , Kaniz Ferdous a , Maksudur R. Khan a,b,⇑ , M.S.I. Mazumder a , M.A. Islam a , Md.T. Uddin a a Department of Chemical Engineering and Polymer Science, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh b Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26300 Gambang, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia article info Article history: Received 10 December 2009 Received in revised form 30 April 2011 Accepted 19 May 2011 Available online 1 June 2011 Keywords: Rubber seed oil Biodiesel Esterification Saponification abstract In the present paper, rubber seed oil (RSO) has been investigated as a potential source for biodiesel pro- duction in Bangladesh. Rubber seed oil has been extracted from the rubber seeds collected from the local garden. Different methods have been applied for the oil extraction, such as mechanical press with and without solvent and cold percolation. Maximum oil content of 49% has been found by mechanical press with periodic addition of solvent. The physico-chemical properties of the oil have been investigated. Effect of seed storage time on free fatty acid (FFA) content of the oil is studied an it is found that the FFA content increases from 2 wt.% (fresh seed) to 45 wt.% after 2 months of storage at room temperature. Biodiesel has been prepared using a three-step method comprises with saponification of oil, acidification of the soap and esterification of FFA. Overall yield of FFA from RSO is found to be around 86%. The final step is esterification that produces fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). The effect of methanol to oil ratio and catalyst content has been investigated for esterification reaction. 1 H NMR spectrum of the RSO and bio- diesel samples are analyzed which confirms the conversion of RSO to biodiesel. The biodiesel properties have been investigated and are found to be comparable with diesel. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction It is now one of the most important considerations with respect to the world present crisis and demand of fuel consumption and production of it from crude. Besides this greenhouse gas emission due to the excess use of petroleum leads to the global warming which is now in the significant phase of consideration, because the unfavorable atmosphere is approaching day by day. To meet the crisis alternative fuel sources are being developed around the globe, such as biodiesel, bioalcohol, biomass, biogas and synthetic fuels. Among them biodiesel can be used directly in the diesel en- gine, while others need some sort of modification before they are used as substitute of conventional fuels [1,2]. Depending upon the climate and soil conditions, different countries are looking for different types of vegetable oils as substitutes for diesel fuels. For example, soyabean oil in the US, rapeseed and sunflower oils in Europe, palm oil in South-east Asia (mainly Malaysia and Indone- sia) and coconut oil in the Philippines are being considered [3]. Currently, more than 95% of the world biodiesel is produced from edible oils which are easily available on large scale from the agri- cultural industry. However, continuous and large-scale production of biodiesel from edible oils has recently been of great concern be- cause they compete with food materials – the food versus fuel dis- pute. There are concerns that biodiesel feedstock may compete with food supply in the long-term. Non-edible plant oils have been found to be promising crude oils for the production of biodiesel. The use of non-edible oils when compared with edible oils is very significant in developing countries because of the tremendous de- mand for edible oils as food, and they are far too expensive to be used as fuel at present [4,5]. Recently the planning commission of India has recommended Karanja and Jatropha for biodiesel pro- duction in India [6]. Bangladesh’s per capita energy consumption is very low, the lowest within the Indian subcontinent. Total primary energy con- sumption in 2004 was 30.70 MTOE and the energy consumption mix was estimated as: indigenous biomass 60%, indigenous natural gas 27.45%, imported oil 11.89%, imported coal 0.44% and hydro 0.23% [7]. The energy potential of biodiesel resources has not been assessed in Bangladesh. Approximate land use for agriculture is 54.5% and forests are 17.6% of total land area of the country [7]. Around 91.8 thousand hectare of land of Bangladesh (14.7% of the total planted forest area) is used for rubber plantation [8] from where the rubber seeds can be collected. The productivity of Rub- ber seed oil per hectare per annum is reported as 217 kg oil/ha [9]. Taking the data as a basis, the expected annual rubber seed oil production in Bangladesh is 0.02 million MT. Moreover additional rubber plantation can be carried out in the unused lands, which accounts around 0.32 million hectare [10]. As a potential feedstock, rubber seed oil will add an additional value of energy to the 0016-2361/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2011.05.020 ⇑ Corresponding author at: Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineer- ing, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26300 Gambang, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. Tel.: +60 09 549 2872; fax: +60 09 549 2889. E-mail address: mrkhancep@yahoo.com (M.R. Khan). Fuel 90 (2011) 2981–2986 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Fuel journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel