High quality biodiesel from yellow oleander (Thevetia peruviana) seed oil Dibakar Chandra Deka*, Sanjay Basumatary Department of Chemistry, Gauhati University, Guwahati 781 014, Assam, India article info Article history: Received 5 October 2010 Received in revised form 31 December 2010 Accepted 5 January 2011 Keywords: Biodiesel Thevetia peruviana Musa balbisiana Yellow oleander Banana plant abstract Yellow oleander (Thevetia peruviana Schum.) seed oil has been investigated to produce biodiesel. Transesterification of the oil to biodiesel was carried out in methanol by batch reaction using a heterogeneous catalyst derived from the trunk of Musa balbisiana Colla (one variety of banana plant). 96 wt.% of the oil is converted to biodiesel at 32  C in 3 h. The wt.% composition of the biodiesel is methyl oleate 43.72, methyl palmitate 23.28, methyl linoleate 19.85, methyl stearate 10.71 and methyl arachidate 2.41. Fuel properties conform to standards set for ASTM D6751, EN 14214, BS II and BS III, and in certain aspects better. The biodiesel is free from sulfur and has exhibited a high cetane number of 61.5. ª 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Biodiesel, as a substitute for petrodiesel, is receiving world- wide attention because of its renewability, biodegradability, nontoxicity and carbon neutrality [1e4]. Depleting petroleum reserves and ever-increasing demand for petrodiesel in the transport sector are two major concerns for both developed and developing countries and these have compelled the researchers to look for a viable alternative to the conventional transport fuel, petrodiesel. Both the feedstock and technology know-how for the production of biodiesel are available but prohibitive cost asso- ciated with currently used feedstocks in developed countries is a deterrent factor in many developing and underdeveloped countries in switching over from petrodiesel to biodiesel mode. High cost of edible vegetable oils such as rapeseed oil and soybean oil, although used in several developed countries, is a major challenge for economic viability of biodiesel industries and can hardly be afforded by poor and underdeveloped countries. It is therefore inevitable to look for non-edible but economically viable feedstocks as alternatives to edible vege- table oils. Several such feedstocks such as karanja (Pongamia glabra) [5,6], field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) [1], rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) [7], Jatropha curcas [8,9], microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) [10], terminalia (Terminalia belerica Robx.) [11], mahua (Madhuca indica) [12,13], etc. are already under consideration by the world community. In this context, Thevetia peruviana Schum. (Fig. 1) seed oil could be an excellent feedstock for biodiesel industries and deserves attention. We are reporting here the extractability of T. peruviana seed oil and its convertability to biodiesel with excellent combustion parameters. T. peruviana Schum., more commonly known as yellow oleander or milk bush, is a small, permanent and evergreen plant mainly grown as an ornamental plant. The plant belongs to the Apocynaceae family and is widespread in American, Asian and African continents. Hated by herbivorous animals, the plant produces seeds rich in oil (60e65%) [14e16], and can be grown on roadsides and road-dividers in expressways for * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91 361 2570535; fax: þ91 361 2700311. E-mail address: dcdeka@rediffmail.com (D.C. Deka). Available at www.sciencedirect.com http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe biomass and bioenergy 35 (2011) 1797 e1803 0961-9534/$ e see front matter ª 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2011.01.007