Brette Pearl Spar Mable (BPSM): a potential recoverable catalyst as a renewable source of biodiesel from Thevetia peruviana seed oil for the benefit of sustainable development in West Africa

Abstract

Background The energy requirements are globally on a rapid escalation, as technology advances, which is also true for a developing country like Nigeria, which is dependent on fossil fuels and its derivatives. Apart from its adverse effect on its economy, it has also negative impacts on the health and the environment, in general. However, investments in renewable energy are faced by the competitive oil prices, the very high investment cost for renewable energy, and high local electricity prices. This paper appraises the attractiveness of investing in renewable energy sources over the continued use of non-edible oil for electricity generation. Methods This paper explores the application of biomass seed oil to produce a renewable fuel (biodiesel) using heterogeneous base catalyst. Meanwhile, two-step processes were employed to produce the biofuel. In the first step (esterification), the acid value of the oil was reduced to the recommended limit (FFA ≤ 1.5) using H2SO4, while in the second step (transesterification), the catalyst calcination of grounded Brette Pearl Spar Mable (BPSM) pre-soaked in methanol was used as a biobase for biodiesel production. For the optimization, minitab response surface (MRS) and artificial neural network (ANN) were employed to model and optimize the process variables responsible for the optimum production of the oil and the biodiesel. Results The result presented showed that T. peruviana seed was found to be rich in oil with an average yield of 44.00% (w/w), and the oil was highly unsaturated with a high FFA. The maximum experimental biodiesel yield obtained was 86.00% at a catalyst amount of 4 g, a reaction time of 70 min, and a methanol/oil ratio of 0.1(v/v). This result was validated in triplicate under the same conditions, which yielded 85.70% (v/v) for MRS and 85.98% (v/v) for ANN. Furthermore, the optimization results also indicated that the p values (p < 0.05) of the model terms were significant, and the accuracy of the models achieved by MRS and ANN based on R2 depict that both optimization tools gave good predictions of R2 (MRS: R2 = 99.98% and ANN: R2 = 99.97%). The properties of the biodiesel, as described in other earlier reports using the same feedstock with different catalysts, indicated that the produced biodiesel had properties which agreed to those reported in the literature. Conclusions T. peruviana seed has proved to be a good biomass raw material for oil production, and its conversion to biofuel using a heterogeneous biobase catalyst showed its suitability as a renewable environmental friendly fuel. Government should invest in more sustainable sources of energy by imposing law for the use of non-edible oil or decreasing the price of electricity.

Eco-Friendly Extraction of Thevetia peruviana Oil: A Synergistic Approach of d-Limonene and Ultrasound Activation

“…The relative percentage compositions of the FAMEs are summarized in Table . A similar composition has also been reported in other studies with conventional solvents. ,, …”

“…In a similar study conducted by Adepoju et al, optimization using Minitab response surface methodology resulted in an optimum yield of 44%. This relatively low yield can be attributed to the narrow range of the solvent–seed ratio (4.0–6.25 mL/g) considered in their study.…”

“…A similar composition has also been reported in other studies with conventional solvents. 31,32,37 Other physicochemical properties of the oil were analyzed using standard methods as indicated in Table 7. The saponification value was determined to be 137.44 mg of KOH/g of oil, indicating a high molecular mass of the specific gravity, and viscosity were measured at 0.8 mequiv O 2 / kg oil, 2.81 mg of KOH/g of oil, 0.90, and 74.35 cP at 21 °C, respectively.…”

Highly efficient synthesis of biodiesel catalyzed by a cellulose@hematite-zirconia nanocomposite

“…Biodiesel parameters, such as acid number (AN), cetane number (CN), American petroleum institute (API), higher heating value (HHV) were calculated as Eqs. (2) , (3) , (4) , and (5) [ 38 , 39 ]: …”

Modeling and optimization of lucky nut biodiesel production from lucky nut seed by pearl spar catalysed transesterification

“…The saponification value was increased by 1.5%, suggesting a high concentration of triglycerides in biodiesel. The higher heating value further decreased by 0.24%, Cetane number increased by 0.5%, which accounts for its greater combustion process ability, as a fuel with low cetane number produces smoke, when used in engine [61] . Other additional fuel properties, such as the diesel index and API increased from oil to biofuel.…”