Background: Bush fire is a common hazard in South East-Nigeria as in other parts of the country during the harmattan. Every year, thousands of hectares of forests as well as suburban lands are severely burnt. These forest fires have been catastrophic, destroying large areas of tropical rain forests and in most cases have claimed many lives and destroyed properties worth millions of naira. However, some of these trees identified by local people and named by taxonomists as Daniellia oliveri, Anacadium occidentale, Vitex doniana, Lonchocarpus griffonianus, Gmelina arborea, Nauclea latifolia, Tectona grandis, Mangifera indica, Delonix regia, Newbouldia laevis, Azadirachta indica, Dialium guineense, Terminalia superba, Manilkara obovata and Irvingia gabonensis have proven to be fire tolerant. Aim: The aim is to establish correlations among the physical properties (wood density and moisture content) and flame characteristics (ignition time, flame propagation rate, flame duration, afterglow time, ash formation and limiting oxygen index) of these fire tolerant trees. Study Design: An item structured instrument was developed by the researchers which reflected the six points modified Likert scale of strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, disagree, strongly disagree and used to elicit information from the respondents who were mainly seasoned wood dealers of above 60 years of age. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was the major tool of analysis used to establish whether the tree species tolerates fire or not while correlation of the parameters was achieved by the application of R2. Place and Duration of Study: Determination of both the physical properties and flame characteristics of the tree species was done at the Research Laboratory of the Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka between June, 2018 and April, 2019. Methodology: The physical properties of the tree species as well as their flame characteristics were carried out using their standard methods. Results: The values for these parameters vary among the tree species. Correlation among the parameters indicates a determination coefficient range from 0.000 to 0.637. Conclusion: There are highly significant correlations between wood density and both ignition time and flame propagation rate as well as wood density and limiting oxygen index. There is also strong correlation between ignition time and both flame propagation rate and limiting oxygen index. Afterglow time depends on limiting oxygen index and vice versa.

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The ongoing search for a more sustainable, renewable, and affordable fuel source has necessitated the quest and search for a better diesel. Biodiesel, an environmentally friendly diesel, has been able to solve many of the issues that have arisen as a result of the use of fossil fuels. They are mostly synthesized by transesterification of a FFA with an alcohol employing an appropriate catalyst. This study examines the use of jansa seed oil as a low-cost feedstock for biodiesel production. Transesterification of free fatty acids (FFA) with methanol and ethanol catalyzed by snail shell was used to process the biodiesel. In the biodiesel production, the alcohol to oil molar ratio was 12:1, the catalyst amount was 0.75 g, and the reaction temperature was 65°C. The reversible second-order reaction rate was used to characterize the kinetics of FFA transesterification. Kinetic modeling of the biodiesel production process was also carried out in order to determine the sequence of the reaction and estimate the reaction rate constant. The activation energy of the ethyl ester was higher than that of the methyl ester, implying that the ethyl ester would require more energy (slower reaction rate) to activate a molecule for chemical transformation. The reusability of the catalyst for continuous transesterfication runs was investigated under the same operating conditions, and the conversion of the catalyst declined from 99.6 percent to 86.4 percent after the fifth regeneration cycle. Jansa seed oil has the potential to be a valuable raw source for generating fatty oil for the use as an alternate feedstock in the production of biodiesel.