Abstract
Increasing percentage of green canola seed every year is a serious problem for canola growers. Chlorophyll content of this oil is very high, which makes it more susceptible to photoβoxidation and ultimately the oxidation stability of the oil is very reduced. Hence green seed canola oil is underutilized for edible purposes. The present work is an attempt to produce highβquality biodiesel from green seed canola oil and methanol, ethanol and various mixtures of methanol and ethanol using KOH as a catalyst. A mixture of alcohols improved the rate of reaction. After transesterification of green seed canola oil using KOH, the chlorophyll content of the oil was decreased substantially (from 22.1 ppm to 10.3 ppm). Characteristics of the esters prepared from green seed canola oil were well within the limits of ASTM standards. Lubricity of the green seed oil esters was excellent (20% decrease in wear scar area) when added at 1 vol% to the base fuel. Oxidation stability is crucial for longβterm storage of the fuel. Oxidation stability index (OSI) of green seed esters was 4.9 h at 110 Β°C, which is much less than the European Standard (6 h at 100 Β°C). The low oxidation stability of green seed esters is attributed to its higher chlorophyll (10.3 ppm) content. An attempt was also made to reduce the chlorophyll content of the oil before transesterification using activated carbon treatment, and it was observed that chlorophyll content was reduced from 22.1 to 2.2 ppm. Copyright Β© 2006 Society of Chemical Industry