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Title: Preparation and Evaluation of Jojoba Oil Methyl Ester as Biodiesel and as Blend Components in Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel

Author
item Shah, Shailesh
item SHARMA, BRAJENDRA - Pennsylvania State University
item Moser, Bryan
item Erhan, Sevim

Submitted to: BioEnergy Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/25/2009
Publication Date: 5/28/2010
Citation: Shah, S.N., Sharma, B.K., Moser, B.R., Erhan, S.Z. 2010. Preparation and Evaluation of Jojoba Oil Methyl Ester as Biodiesel and as Blend Components in Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel. BioEnergy Research. 3:214-223.

Interpretive Summary: This research reveals that Jojoba oil is acceptable as an alternative domestic non-food feedstock for biodiesel production. As a result of current debates about the fuel versus food issue, alternative non-food feedstocks are an important area of research. The objective of the current research was to produce biodiesel from jojoba oil and compare its fuel properties with biodiesel prepared from soybean oil. It was discovered that jojoba-biodiesel displayed superior low temperature properties and inferior viscosity versus soy biodiesel. Likewise, jojoba-biodiesel blends (B5 and B20) in Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) displayed improved low temperature properties in comparison to neat ULSD and blends of soy biodiesel in ULSD. This research will help biodiesel manufacturers, biodiesel blenders and biodiesel researchers to design biodiesel blends with ULSD with improved low temperature properties from non-food alternative feedstocks. The current study may ultimately help jojoba-biodiesel enter the market and improve community opinion of internally produced biodiesel, thus affording greater national independence from imported petroleum-based fuels.

Technical Abstract: The jojoba plant (Simmondsia chinensis L.) produces seeds that contain around 50 to 60 weight percent of inedible long-chain wax esters that are suitable as a potential feedstock for biodiesel production. A Jojoba oil methyl ester (JME) was prepared in effort to evaluate an important fuel properties of jojoba-based biodiesel, such as kinematic viscosity, cloud point, pour point, cold filter plugging point, acid value, oxidative stability, and lubricity. A comparison was made with soybean oil methyl esters (SME) and relevant biodiesel fuel standards such as ASTM D6751 and EN 14214. JME was characterized using FTIR and 1H and 13C NMR. JME displayed superior low temperature properties, and inferior kinematic viscosities versus SME. Blends (B5 and B20) of JME in ultra low sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD) were also evaluated for the aforementioned fuel properties and compared to an analogous set of blends of soybean oil methyl ester in ULSD and relevant petro diesel fuel standards such as ASTM D975 and D7467. JME blends in ULSD displayed improved low temperature properties in comparison to neat ULSD and blends of SME in ULSD. In summary, jojoba oil has enormous potential as an alternative, non-food feedstock for biodiesel production.