An evaluation of biodiesel production from Camelina sativa grown in Nova Scotia

Abstract Camelina sativa has recently attracted great interest as an energy crop for biodiesel production in North America. To assess the feasibility of biodiesel production from camelina, the cultivation conditions, camelina oil fatty acid profile, alkali-catalyzed transesterificaiton process and fuel properties of camelina biodiesel were investigated. Unrefined camelina oil, containing 10%, 33.2% and 56.8% saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids respectively, was used to synthesize biodiesel. The conversion rate of C . sativa oil to its methyl esters was 96% under optimal reaction conditions. Most fuel properties of the resulting camelina biodiesel were in good agreement with specifications of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM D6751) and European standard (EN 14214), such as kinematic viscosity, acid number, flash point, sulfur content, total glycerol content. Its cetane number (49.7) was satisfactory according to ASTM D6751, but not for EN 14214. Camelina biodiesel exhibited poor oxidative stability (1.9 h) resulting from the high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acid methyl esters.