Non-edible plant seeds of Acacia farnesiana as a new and effective source for biofuel production

Abstract

Currently, the energy crisis is a hot topic for researchers because we are facing serious problems due to overpopulation and natural energy sources are vanishing day-by-day. To overcome the energy crisis, biofuel production from non-edible plant seeds is the best solution for the present era. In the present study, we select the non-edible seeds of Acacia farnesiana for biofuel production from different areas of Pakistan with better oil production results. Different kinds of analytical method, like the American Standard for Testing and Materials and techniques like Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gas chromatography, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, were used to evaluate the chemical compositions. The maximum oil extraction rate (23%) was produced by petroleum ether. Potassium hydroxide exhibited the best conversion result of 96% fatty acid methyl ester. The transesterification method was used for the preparation of fatty acid methyl ester (96%) using potassium hydroxide and methanol. The viscosity and density of Acacia farnesiana seed oil biodiesel was comparable to American Standard for Testing Material biodiesel standards. By using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, five fatty acids were detected comprising palmitic acid (6.85%), stearic acid (2.36%), oleic acid (12.13%), linoleic acid (46.85%), and α-linolenic acid (1.23%). This study concludes that Acacia farnesiana seed oil biodiesel could be an intriguing raw material for yielding Acacia farnesiana seed oil methyl ester as an alternative fuel source.