2101 AJCS 7(13):2101-2107 (2013) ISSN:1835-2707 Egusi melon (Citrullus lanatus) crop – Malaysian new oil/energy source: Production, processing and prospects Bande Yahaya Muhammad 1,* , Adam Nor Mariah 1 , Jamarei Bin Othman 2 , Azmi Yahya 2 , and Zubairu Usman Bashar 2 1 Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Putra, Malaysia, 43400, Sri Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia 2 Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Universiti Putra, Malaysia, 43400, Sri Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia *Corresponding author: ymbande@yahoo.com Abstract Egusi melon (Citrullus lanatus), a tropical crop mostly grown in parts of Africa, was introduced and grown in Malaysia to establish its adaptation and performance for oil and bio-energy. The crop was planted on a 200m 2 area planting plot on two seasons (Malaysia’s dry and wet seasons). A total of 1127 fruits/200m 2 (or 5.635 fruits/m 2 ), produced 45.5kg/200m 2 (or 0.2275kg/m 2 ) seeds after processing during dry season. Harvest on wet season over same planting area, using same crop maintenance produced 448 fruits/200m 2 (or 2.24 fruits/m 2 ), with total seed mass of 5.49 kg/200m 2 (or 0.0275kg/m 2 ). Randomly selected 100 fruits after processing produced an average of 330.6 seeds/fruit, weighting 65.652g/fruit. Planting, monitoring and harvesting to obtain seeds from the fruits was presented. Seeds were sun and then oven dried in line with the ASAE S 352 standards to achieve moisture content of 7.11%, and were then ground for oil extraction. Crude oil from the seeds was extracted using sohxlet extraction method with hexane as solvent. Oil content from 800g of both seed kernel and whole seeds were 55.64% (444.96g) and 44.97% (358.84g), respectively. The fuel properties of its biodiesels show Cetane numbers of 52.54 and 53.06 and kinematic viscosities (@ 40 0 C) of 3.00 and 2.53 mm 2 /s for EDSOME and EWSOME respectively, with very low pour and cloud points for both. It was concluded to be good source of oil and can be used for biodiesel and biomass and recommended for planting in tropical countries, as it requires less rainfall for better yield. Keywords: Egusi seed, oil, Cetane number, kinematic viscosity, cloud and pour point. Abbreviations: ASAE_American Society of Agricultural Engineers, ASTM_American Standard of Testing Materials, EN_ European Standard, SD_Standard Deviation, EDSO_Egusi dehulled seed oil, EWSO_Egusi whole seed oil, EWSOME_Egusi whole seed oil methyl ester, EDSOME_Egusi dehulled see oil methyl ester. Introduction Exploring new energy/oil crops is mandatory to checkmate the effect of fossil fuels on the environment. Many oil crops were discovered around the world, but the major mitigating factor is lack of adaptability of some of these crops in other parts of the world, which may be related to the climatic conditions in different geographical locations. The environmental effect of fossil fuels is an issue of major concern to researchers worldwide, which is linked to human activity, especially in the oil and gas industry (Pinto et al., 2005), thus, quest for newer renewable energy sources has become of paramount importance. Several oil crops have been identified in several parts of the world (Balat and Balat, 2008; Demirbas, 2009), however, some crops are environmental sensitive; and thus may not grow in some locations, or produce poorly due to factors such as rain, humidity and environmental temperature (Pinto et al., 2005; Demirbas, 2009). Among other oil crops commonly found in Africa are Jatropha, sesame, oil palm, sunflower, and rapeseed (Marvey, 2009). In West and East Africa, egusi melon seed has been a good source of oil, and is generally reported by many researchers to be grown largely in central Africa (Bande et al., 2012a) and in southern Sahelian zones and neighboring savannas (Jeffrey, 1980). It has also been proved to be a good source of bio-fuel (George et al., 2010), in addition to its values as a food source. The growth and utilization of this seed is not limited only for food and for medicinal purposes as reported by Oyolo (1982) and Eugene and Gloria (2002); in cosmetics (George et al., 2010), but also as a biodiesel feedstock (Giwa et al. 2010). Egusi melon crop is a ground creepy crop and thus good for mixed farming system and its spreading nature covers the ground and as such suppresses weed growth on farm, thereby cutting down on the cost of its production (Bande, et al., 2012 b). The crop was introduced in Malaysia on a fundamental research work to observe its adaptation and propagation for biodiesel and biomass. It was observed that every part of the crop; roots to the skin and flesh of the crop is a source of energy, in addition to high calorific value of its crude oil and biodiesel. The by-product from the seeds after oil extraction can be used as livestock feed, since it contains about 20% proteins (Eugene and Gloria, 2002). The biodiesel qualities of the oil from both seed kernels and the whole seed were tested and conform to ASTM and EN standards. Flash points, kinematic viscosities, acid values and Cetane numbers to mention a few, were in the range of both ASTM and EN standards. Figures 1, 2 and 3 shows the whole egusi fruit, cut fruit showing seed layout and washed seeds being dried in the sun.