Liquid fuel production from Cassia spectablis seed oil by one step Transesterification and evaluation of its Fuel properties based on fatty acid composition

Abstract In this work biodiesel is synthesized using low cost feedstock Cassia spectablis seed oil. The Cassia spectablis seeds yield 25% oil. Various physicochemical properties of seed oil have been determined according to AOCS methods. The Acid value of seed oil is 1.8 mg KOH/g oil and is directly subjected for single step base catalyzed transesterification process under optimized condition. The synthesized biodiesel is characterized using FT-IR, 1H -NMR and 13C NMR spectroscopic methods for the confirmation of fatty acid methyl esters. The biodiesel is subject for GC-FID analysis to quantify its component fatty acids. Various fuel properties relevant to biodiesel are evaluated computationally and substantiated with experimental values. The fuel properties are comparable with the existing biodiesels like Soyabean, Sunflower, Rape seed oil biodiesel and petrodiesel which are further verified with biodiesel fuel standards as per ASTM D6751, BIS 1567 and EN 14,214 standards.