Ethyl biodiesel production from non-edible oils of Balanites aegyptiaca, Azadirachta indica, and Jatropha curcas seeds – Laboratory scale development

By starting first at the laboratory scale, optimal operating conditions for the reaction unit aimed at producing ethyl biodiesels from non-edible vegetable oils (NEVO) were determined with the ultimate objective of proposing an on-farm processing technology that should be sustainable for emerging countries. Three NEVO widely available in Burkina Faso were selected: Balanites aegyptiaca (BA), Azadirachta indica (AI), and Jatropha curcas (JC) oils. Their conversion to fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) was conducted via a two-stage procedure under atmospheric pressure: an alkali-catalyzed ethanolysis at ambient temperature for the BA and AI oils (leading to 93 and 87 wt.% FAEE respectively) and an acid-catalyzed ethanolysis at the normal boiling of the alcohol for the JC oil (leading to 89 wt.% FAEE). Based on the intermediate addition of glycerol at ambient temperature, the two-stage procedure combines chemical kinetics, chemical equilibrium, and phase equilibrium phenomena.