Industrial Crops and Products 62 (2014) 8–13

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Industrial Crops and Products

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop

Biodiesel production from Stauntonia chinensis seed oil (waste from

food processing): Heterogeneous catalysis by modified calcite,
biodiesel purification, and fuel properties
Rui Wang a,∗ , Lili Sun b , Xiaolin Xie a , Lizhi Ma a , Zhigang Liu a , Xiaoyan Liu a ,
Ning Ji a , Guofang Xie a
a
Guizhou Engineering Research Center for Fruit Processing, Food and Pharmaceutical Engineering Institute, Guiyang College, Guiyang 550003, China
b
Patent Examination Cooperation Center of the Patent Office, SIPO, Beijing 100081, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present research, the potential of Stauntonia chinensis (SC) seed oil obtained from processing waste
Received 15 May 2014 was investigated for the first time as biodiesel feedstock, including physicochemical properties of the oil,
Received in revised form 31 July 2014 the heterogeneous catalysis process, purification, and fuel properties. A 29.37 ± 0.64 wt.% of oil content
Accepted 4 August 2014
and 2.41 mg KOH/g of acid value was found. Under the optimised reaction conditions in the presence of
Available online 29 August 2014
modified calcite, an 88.02% of yield and a 98.90 wt.% of FAME content were achieved. According to EN
14124 (2012), SC biodiesel exhibited superior fuel properties compared to the most of other feedstock
Keywords:
oils since it had an ideal fatty acid composition (low Cn:0 (8.06 wt.%), high Cn:1 (80.16 wt.%), and low
Biodiesel
Stauntonia chinensis
Cn:2,3 (8.45 wt.%)). It was absolutely vital that the use of SC seed oil as a biodiesel feedstock would not
Heterogeneous catalysis compete with its use in food. In summary, SC seed oil should be recommended as a promising feedstock
Modified calcite for biodiesel.
Fuel properties © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction to the exploration of highly effective heterogeneous catalysts and

Recently, increasing concerns about diminishing petroleum
reserves, security of energy supply, pollutant emission, environ-
mental protection, and food security have been driving an intensive
search for new biomass-based energy sources. Because biodiesel
(fatty acid methyl ester, FAME) is regarded as one of the promising
environment-friendly nonpetroleum alternative fuels, consider-
able efforts have been devoted to the exploration and development
of an ideal feedstock, a highly effective heterogeneous catalyst, and
an efficient production process (Borges and Díaz, 2012; Hernández
et al., 2014; Reyes-Trejo et al., 2014). Feedstock-related cost, which
constitutes approximately 60–90% of the total biodiesel production
cost, has been regarded as a principal obstacle (Mohammadshirazi
et al., 2014). Therefore, selecting the best feedstock is vital for
ensuring low production costs. Great efforts have been devoted
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 13985138961; fax: +86 851 540 7613.
E-mail addresses: wangrui961@gmail.com, wangrui060729@gmail.com
(R. Wang).
corresponding processes.
Lately, waste has been becoming increasingly important in the
energy industry. According to previous reports, utilisation of waste
cooking oil could reduce biodiesel production costs by 60–90%,
which was much lower than the costs for nonedible plant oils
(Yaakob et al., 2013). Therefore, food waste should be regarded as
an important and valuable resource for the biodiesel production,
for example, waste animal fats, waste cooking oil, and industrial
residue (Banković-Ilić et al., 2014; Cho et al., 2012; Hernández
et al., 2014). According to the project (World Agriculture Towards
2030/2050: 2012) initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organisa-
tion (FAO), a 70% increase in food production will be implemented
in the next 40 years. Food waste should not be overlooked as an
important raw material source. Besides as an abundant feedstock
resource, food waste has fuel properties also regarded as a key
parameter contributing to the potential of biodiesel. These proper-
ties depend on the fatty acid composition (FAC). Currently, biodiesel
can be produced using a great variety of animal or plant oil sources,
but the oxidation stability and cold flow performance of the result-
ing biodiesel samples derived from different animal or plant oils are
unsatisfactory. Previous studies concluded that the ideal vegetable

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2014.08.002
0926-6690/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 R. Wang et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 62 (2014) 8–13
oil-based biodiesel should possess high C16:1 and C18:1 content,
low polyunsaturated fatty acid content, and limited saturated fatty
acid content (Pinzi et al., 2009; Ramos et al., 2009).
As mentioned above, the other important technological chal-
lenge for biodiesel production is a feasible production process,
which includes highly effective heterogeneous catalysts and the
corresponding equipment and techniques. Among numerous basic
heterogeneous catalysts reported in the literature and patents,
CaO is a promising candidate because of its heterogeneous cat-
alytic behaviour, low cost, environmental benefits, and reusability.
Apart from these, CaO is also cheap and widely available from such
sources as natural dolomite, calcite, and lime-stone. Despite the
potential for transesterification catalysis, common CaO is employed
at the expense of large catalyst amount, high methanol-to-oil molar
ratio, long time, and severe conditions because of its low sur-
face area, low active site density, and mass transfer limitations. To
enhance its catalytic performance, great research efforts have been
devoted and are currently underway in such areas as nanotech-
nology, hydration–dehydration technique, surface modification,
and loading onto supports (Kouzu and Hidaka, 2012; Wang et al.,
2013; Yoosuk et al., 2011). When CaO is used as a catalyst for
biodiesel preparation, residual Ca2+ is always observed in the prod-
ucts (biodiesel and glycerol) because of calcium soaps and solution
(Granados et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2013). Ca2+ concentration in the
final biodiesel product should be below 5 ppm, which is specified
by biodiesel standards (European Standard EN 14124, Australian
Biodiesel Standard, and South African Standard). Therefore, a feasi-
ble purification process is essential (Atadashi et al., 2011). To date,
vacuum distillation has been one of the most economic and feasible
industrial processes for biodiesel purification, which can simulta-
neously remove the residual methanol, catalyst, glycerol, and other
impurities from biodiesel.
Different from Carica papaya L. (CP) (Winayanuwattikun et al.,
2008), Stauntonia chinensis (SC) is a member of the Rosaceae fam-
ily and is native to and widely spread in southern China. Although
the pulp of SC is edible, the edibility of SC seed oil is unascertained
at present. And the poisoning incidents have occurred in Zhengan
country, Gui zhou province, China. Up to data, approximate 60,000
acres of SC were cultivated in Guizhou and Sichuan province and
Chongqing city of China, and most of the SC fruit (approximately
250,000 t/a) is processed into beverage, tin, and sweetmeat. As a
result, biomass in the form of SC seed is generated in large quan-
tities (approximately 15,000 t/a) as waste from the SC-processing
industry. That means about 5000 t/a of seed oil is discarded. In the
present study, SC seed oil, known as the waste of food processing,
was catalysed to biodiesel by modified calcite. The modified calcite
was prepared by means of the hydration–dehydration technique
(Yoosuk et al., 2011). Then, the crude biodiesel sample was refined
using vacuum distillation. Finally, the fuel properties of the refined
biodiesel sample were determined and evaluated. To our knowl-
edge, there were no studies reported on SC seed oil as a feedstock
for biodiesel production and on the related heterogeneous catalytic
processes.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials and reagents
SC seed was obtained from Zhunyi Tianlou Wild Pawpaw Co.,
Ltd. (Zhengan county, Guizhou, China), as waste from a bever-
age production process. Natural calcite powder (400-mesh) was
collected in Guizhou Province, China. The elemental composition
analysis was performed using an energy-dispersive X-ray spec-
trometer (Oxford INCA-350), and the components (wt.%) were
determined as follows: Ca 46.2 wt.%, Mg 1.2 wt.%, C 18.2 wt.%,
9
Table 1
Physicochemical properties of SC seed oil.
Physicochemical properties Mean ± SD
Oil content (wt%) 29.37 ± 0.64
Acid acid (mg KOH/g) 2.70 ± 0.14
Saponification value (mg KOH/g) 154.43 ± 2.12
Iodine value (g I2 /100 g) 72.45 ± 1.13
Average molecular weight 1107.43 ± 5.19
O 33.4 wt.%, Si 0.6 wt.%, Fe 0.1 wt.%, and S 0.2 wt.%. Anhydrous
methanol, boron trifluoride, and all other regents were analytical
grade and were purchased from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.,
Ltd., Shanghai. All FAME standards, including palmitic acid (C16:0),
palmitoleic acid (C16:1), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1),
linoleic acid (C18:2), linolenic acid (C18:3), cis-11-eicosanoic acid
(C20:1), and erucic acid (C22:1) methyl ester were purchased from
Sigma–Aldrich (USA).
2.2. Characterisation of physicochemical properties of SC seed oil
The SC seed sample was dried in vacuum (100 ◦ C, 0.08 MPa) for
1 h to remove excess moisture. Then, the dried seeds were ground
using a laboratory attrition mill and passed through a 20-mesh
(0.9 mm) sieve. The seed oil content (wt.%), acid value (mg KOH/g),
saponification value (mg KOH/g), and iodine value (g I2 /100 g) were
determined according to ISO 659: 1998, ISO 660: 1996, ISO 3657:
2002, and ISO 3961: 1996. For the trans-esterification reaction,
average molecular weight of SC seed oil was deduced according
to the method of Zhu et al. (2006). All data were listed in Table 1.
2.3. Catalyst preparation, characterisation, and regeneration
In a typical preparatory reaction, 200 g of calcite powder was cal-
cined at 800 ◦ C for 3 h in static air. Then, the calcined calcite (100 g)
was refluxed in distilled water (400 g) at 80 ◦ C for 6 h, and the reac-
tion mixture was filtered and dried in vacuum (100 ◦ C, 0.08 MPa)
for 1 h in static air. According to the thermogravimetric analysis
(TGA) results shown in Fig. 1, the hydrated sample was calcined at
750 ◦ C for 1 h. The final product was named as modified calcite. To
avoid poisoning by CO2 and H2 O, all calcined products were stored
in a desiccator containing silica gel and KOH pellets.
The TGA data of hydrated sample was recorded by a Netzsch
STA449C at a heating rate of 4 ◦ C min−1 in an atmosphere of pure
nitrogen. BET measurement was performed by a Micromeritics
TriStar II 3020 system (adsorption of N2 at 77 K). After degassing for
3 h at 573 K, we calculated the special surface area (SSA) of the mod-
ified calcite by BET method over the relative pressure range (P/P0 ) of
0.05–0.20. The morphological characteristics of the modified calcite
were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM; Zeiss
EVO 15LS) operated at an accelerating voltage of 20 kV. Powder X-
ray diffraction (XRD) patterns with a step size of 0.02 from 10◦ to
70◦ of the catalyst samples were obtained using a Bruker D8 X-ray
diffractometer equipped with a Cu Ka radiation ( = 0.154 nm) at
40 kV and 30 mA. The base strength was determined using Ham-
mett indicators.
During the operation, the surface of CaO was prone to be con-
taminated by CO2 and H2 O within a few minutes (Granados et al.,
2009). Therefore, reclaimed modified catalysts were regenerated
by recalcination at 850 ◦ C for 1 h after every reaction cycle.
2.4. Quantification of FAC and FAME content, FAME yield, and
Ca2+ content of the biodiesel sample
To measure the FAC and FAME content of the biodiesel sam-
ple, we employed a Shimazhu GC/MS-QP2010E equipped with
10 R. Wang et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 62 (2014) 8–13

Fig. 1. The patterns of catalyst characterisation: (A) TGA of precursor for modified calcite; (B) XRD for calcined calcite and modified calcite; (C) N2 adsorption–desorption
isotherms of calcined calcite and modified calcite; (D) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) pattern of modified calcite.

an HP-Innowax column (30 m × 0.32 mm, 0.5 ␮m) and a flame
ionisation detector. After methylation according to ISO 5509-
2001, the main fatty acid species were identified by GC/MS. The
chromatographic conditions reported in our previous work were
used as follows (Wang et al., 2011): inlet temperature: 523 K;
detector temperature: 553 K; split ratio: 25:1; oven temperature
programme: 463 K for 3 min, ramp rate of 15 K min−1 to 513 K,
then hold for 10 min; injection volume: 1 ␮L; carrier gas: helium,
at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min−1 ; air flow: 450 mL min−1 ; H2 flow:
40 mL min−1 . Mass spectrometry was conducted according to the
following conditions: carrier gas: helium; electron energy: 70 eV;
interface temperature: 553 K; ion source temperature: 503 K;
quadrupole temperature: 423 K; mass scan range: 50–550 m/z; sol-
vent delay: 3.0 min. FAC and FAME contents were obtained by the
external standard method that GC data was compared to that of
known standards. The FAME yield was calculated using the follow-
ing Eq. (1):
Total weight of FAME
FAME yield(%) = × 100%
Total weight of oil
After digestion according to the method of Verziu et al. (2008),
Ca2+ residue in the resulting biodiesel samples was measured using
atomic absorption photospectrometry (Shimazu AA-7000).
2.5. Heterogeneous transesterification catalysis and purification
of biodiesel product
Expressed oil with a 2.41 mg KOH/g of acid value was obtained
using a vertical hydraulic oil press (6YZ-180) after SC seed was
stir-fried at 150 ± 5 ◦ C for 20 min. A heterogeneous basic catalytic
process was chosen because the acid value of expressed oil was
below 4 mg KOH/g (Ramadhas et al., 2005). Transesterification
reactions were performed in an oil bath in a 500 mL 3-necked
glass flask equipped with a thermometer. The flask was loaded
with 200 g of seed oil, the prescribed amounts of the cata-
lyst and methanol, and then was subjected to magnetic mixing.
The mixture was vigorously stirred (600 rpm) for the required
reaction time at 338 K in an inert atmosphere (N2 ). After the
reaction, the mixture was immediately immersed into an ice
salt bath to stop the reaction. The mixture was filtered, and
excess methanol was removed via rotary evaporation (373 K,
0.08 MPa for 20 min). After that, the liquid phase was transferred
(1) into a separating funnel and allowed to settle overnight. Crude
SC biodiesel samples were purified by means of vacuum dis-
tillation. The distillation fraction was collected between 175 ◦ C
and 230 ◦ C under 35 ± 5 mmHg, and was named as fined SC
biodiesel.
 R. Wang et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 62 (2014) 8–13 11

2.6. Fuel properties
The fined SC biodiesel sample was characterised using the
standard test methods according to European standards (EN 14214
(2012)). For comparison and evaluation, we used palm and CP
biodiesel samples described in earlier studies (Ramos et al., 2009).
2.7. Statistical analysis
All experiments were performed in triplicate, and the data were
expressed as mean ± standard deviation except for the data of fuel
properties.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characterisation of SC seed oil and comparison to oil from
other plants
XRD pattern (Fig. 1(B)), CaO (32.26, 37.33, 53.84, 64.20, and 67.33◦ )
was the major active species on the surface of the catalyst samples.
CaO diffraction peaks of modified calcite were wider and shorter
than those of calcined calcite. The mean primary crystallite size of
the modified calcite (39 nm) was smaller than that of calcined cal-
cite (61 nm), which were deduced using the Scherrer equation. In
contrast to the SEM pattern of calcined calcite reported in our pre-
vious study (Wang et al., 2013), sizeable particles (approximately
200 nm in diameter) aggregated in the modified calcite sample,
which corresponded to the results of N2 adsorption–desorption
isotherms. In accordance with our previous study (Wang et al.,
2013), the difference of SSA between the two samples could be
attributed to their different precursors. According to the Hammett
indicators, the basicity of two catalyst samples was determined as
8.2 < pKBH+ < 10.1.
3.3. Biodiesel production and purification

We first tested the catalytic activities of calcined calcite and

According to the standard set by ISO 658-2002, the oil con-
modified calcite under the same reaction conditions (SC oil 200 g,
tent of SC seed was 29.37 ± 0.64 wt.% as shown in Table 1. Then
catalyst 3 wt.%, methanol-to-oil molar ratio 10: 1; and 338 K for
a series of characteristics were determined, including acid value
3 h). Because of mass transfer limitations, heterogeneous catalysts
(2.70 ± 0.14 mg KOH/g), saponification (154.43 ± 2.12 mg KOH/g),
also exhibited weaker activity than that of a homogeneous cat-
and iodine value (72.45 ± 1.13 mg I2 /100 g). The FAC of SC, Palm,
alyst. This drawback could be overcome by increasing SSA and
and CP were shown in Table 2. Compared to the other two samples,
active site density (Wang et al., 2013). As illustrated in Fig. 2(A),
the SC oil sample possessed the lowest saturated fatty acid con-
calcined calcite with 5.2 m2 g−1 of SSA provided a 31.54 ± 2.71%
tent (8.06 wt.%), the highest monounsaturated fatty acid content
yield of FAME. When modified calcite with 11.3 m2 g−1 of SSA was
(80.07 wt.%), and the highest degree of unsaturation (96.97%).
tested, the FAME yield was drastically increased to 67.02 ± 1.12%.
According to the characterisation results (XRD, SEM, SSA, and
3.2. Catalyst characterisation
Hammett basicity), we attributed the strong catalytic performance
of modified calcite to its increased SSA. Then the optimal cat-
According to the TGA curve shown in Fig. 1(A), the calcination
alytic conditions for modified calcite were obtained by means of
temperature of the hydrated sample (catalyst precursor) was con-
single-factor experiments. The catalyst amount (3, 5, and 7 wt.%)
firmed to be 750 ◦ C, corresponding to a total 25.91 wt.% loss of the
was first optimised with a 10:1 molar ratio of methanol to oil
initial weight. After the hydration–dehydration procedure, the SSA
at 338 K for 3 h. After the comparison, the highest FAME yield
of calcined calcite and modified calcite samples were analysed.
(91.13 ± 2.46%) was achieved at 5 wt.% of modified calcite. When
Modified calcite possessed higher SSA (11.3 m2 g−1 ) than calcined
the transesterification reaction was completed at 7 wt.% of modified
calcite (5.7 m2 g−1 ). The N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms of
calcite, the interface of phase separation was ambiguous, indi-
the two samples were classified as type III isotherms with type
cating that the saponification occurred and an excessive amount
H3 hysteresis loops (Fig. 1(C)). This result meant that there were
of the catalyst was used. The FAME yield was also decreased to
irregular slit-shaped pores in the two samples, which were formed
74.52 ± 4.14%. Methanol-to-oil molar ratio (8:1, 10:1, 12:1) was
by the aggregation of plate-like particles (Gregg and Sing, 1982).
optimised with a 5 wt.% of the catalyst amount for 3 h. After com-
Furthermore, the latter provided a smaller average pore diame-
parison, the 10:1 stoichiometric ratio was selected, which resulted
ter (33.1 nm) compared to the former (51.9 nm). According to the
in an appropriate FAME yield (91.13 ± 2.46%). When the molar
ratio was increased to 12:1, there was no obvious improvement.
Finally, the effect of reaction time (2, 2.5, and 3 h) on the FAME
Table 2
yield was illustrated in Fig. 2(d). The results showed that a sat-
The FAC of three biodiesel samples.
isfactory FAME yield (90.72 ± 1.92%) with a 97.04 ± 0.32 wt.% of
FAC (wt%) SC Palm CP FAME content was achieved at 2.5 h. Thus, the optimised catalytic
(Ramos (Winayanuwattikun
conditions for modified calcite were as follows: 5 wt.% modi-
et al., 2009) et al., 2008)
fied calcite, methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 10:1, and 338 K for
Lauric acid (C12:0) – 0.1 0.26 2.5 h.
Myristic acid (C14:0) – 0.7 0.46
Palmitic acid (C16:0) 6.87 36.7 17.12
Reclaimed modified calcite was used directly without recalci-
Palmitoleic acid (C16:1) 0.21 0.1 0.45 nation in the next catalytic reaction. As a result, the FAME yield
Stearic acid (C18:0) 1.19 6.6 2.98 decreased to 79.17%, indicating that the active sites of the modified
Oleic acid (C18:1) 79.95 46.1 72.91 calcite were poisoned by CO2 and H2 O, which was in good agree-
Linoleic acid (C18:2) 8.32 8.6 4.83
ment with the data in the literature (Granados et al., 2007). After
Linolenic acid (C18:3) 0.13 0.3 0.29
11-Eicosenoic acid (20:0) 1.72 0.4 0.67 every reaction, the reclaimed modified calcite samples were recal-
11-Eicosenoic acid (20:1) 0.51 0.2 – cined at 850 ◦ C for 1 h. The yields had being stayed above 89.27%
Docosanoic acid (C22:0) – 0.1 0.07 until the fifth time.
Lignoceric acid (C24:0) – 0.1 – Because of saponification and dissolution, the leach of Ca2+ was
Proportion of saturation (Cn: 0) 8.06 44.7 21.56
Proportion of 80.67 46.4 73.36
observed in unrefined crude biodiesel samples prepared by cataly-
monounsaturation (Cn: 1) sis of CaO (Atadashi et al., 2011; Granados et al., 2009; Wang et al.,
Proportion of polyunsaturation 8.45 8.9 5.12 2013). Under the optimised conditions, Ca2+ content in the crude
(Cn: 2, 3) biodiesel samples was 113.62 ± 4.11 ppm in the present study,
Degree of unsaturation [10] 96.97 64.2 83.6
which far exceeded the limits prescribed by EN 14124 (≤5 ppm).
12 R. Wang et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 62 (2014) 8–13
Fig. 2. Effect of catalyst samples (A), modified calcite amount (B), molar ratio of methanol to oil (C), and reaction time (D) on the FAME yield (%).
Consequently, crude biodiesel samples were refined using vacuum
distillation (30 ± 5 mmHg), and the fraction from 175 ◦ C to 230 ◦ C
was collected. At the end of distillation, a small amount of solid
was observed at the bottom of the Claisen flask, which was cal-
cium soap synthesised by CaO glyceride under heating. The yield of
the vacuum distillation procedure was 97.02 ± 4.43%, and the total
yield including synthesis and purification reached 88.02 ± 3.62%.
Finally, there were no Ca2+ ions detected in the refined biodiesel
sample, and FAME content increased from 97.04 ± 0.32 wt.% to
98.90 ± 0.09 wt.%.
3.4. Fuel properties
The measured characteristics of SC and palm biodiesel samples
were determined according to EN 14124 (2012) and summari-
sed in Table 3. For comparison, the predicted properties of CP
biodiesel sample which were deduced by fitting of equations
(Ramírez-Verduzco et al., 2012; Ramos et al., 2009), were also
listed because there were no measured values reported in the
previous study (Winayanuwattikun et al., 2008). Furthermore,
some important properties of the three samples were compared
and evaluated based on the relationship between fuel properties
and FAC content. For the SC biodiesel, all properties met the EN
14124 standard except the oxidation stability. As two important
parameters of biodisel quality, oxidation stability and cetane num-
ber were inversely proportional to the degree of unsaturation, and
a higher cetane number was always observed for a higher propor-
tion of saturated FAME (Ramos et al., 2009). Because SC had the
highest degree of unsaturation (96.97 vs. 64.2 and 83.6, Table 2)
and the lowest proportion of saturation (8.06 vs. 44.7 and 21.56,
Table 2), palm and CP biodiesel could provide superior oxidation
stability and cetane number than SC, while their cold flow perfor-
mance and kinematic viscosity were worse than those of the SC
biodiesel. This finding could be explained as follows: the cold filter
plug point and kinematic viscosity increased with the increase in
the degree of unsaturation. Some studies revealed that ideal veg-
etable oil-based biodiesel should possess high C16:1 and C18:1
content, low polyunsaturated fatty acid content, and limited sat-
urated acid content [9,10]. According to FAC of the three plant oils
summarised in Table 2, SC had the lowest proportion of satura-
tion (Cn: 0, 8.06 wt.%), the highest proportion of C16:1 and C18:1
content (80.16 wt.%), and the lowest polyunsaturated fatty acid
content (Cn: 2, 3, 8.45 wt.%). The only drawback was the weak oxi-
dation stability of SC biodiesel, which was a common problem for
most of the vegetable oil-based biodiesel samples. Nonetheless,
this problem could be easily resolved by addition of an antioxi-
dant. Thus, SC seed oil should be regarded as an ideal biodiesel
feedstock.
 R. Wang et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 62 (2014) 8–13 13

Table 3
Fuel properties of biodiesel samples.

Fuel properties Test method Limits Samples

SCa Palma (Ramos CPb (Winayanuwattikun

et al., 2009) et al., 2008)

FAME content (wt%) GCc 96.5 min 98.90 97.7 –

Linolenic acid content (wt%) GCc 12.0 max 0.13 0.2 0.29
Density at 15 ◦ C (kg/m3 ) EN ISO 3675 860–900 875 – –
Cetane number EN ISO 5165 51 min 52.1 61 56.27
Oxidation stability (110 ◦ C, h) pr EN 14112 6 min 2 4.0 –
Cold filter plug point (CFPP, ◦ C) DIN EN 116 – −9 10 −7
Kinematic viscosity (mm2 /s; 40 ◦ C) EN ISO 3104 3.5–5.0 4.48 4.5 4.5
Condradson carbon residue (10%) EN ISO 10370 0.30 max 0.05 –
Flash point ( ◦ C) EN ISO 2719 120.0 min 167 176 –
Sulfated ash content (wt%) ISO 3987 0.02 max 0.001 – –
Sulfur content (mg/kg) DIN 51680 10.0 max 5 – –
Acid value (mg KOH/g) pr EN 14104 0.50 max 0.12 0.12 –
Copper strip corrosion at 50 ◦ C, 3 h EN ISO 2160 Class 1 1a – –
Water content (mg/kg) EN ISO 12937 500 max 290 – –
Free glycerol (wt%) pr EN 14 105 0.02 max 0.003 0.01 –
Total glycerol (wt%) pr EN 14 105 0.25 max 0.14 0.06 –
a
Measured value.
b
Predicted value.
c
FAME content (wt%) was determined by GC.

4. Conclusion
The use of waste to produce biodiesel has received wide atten-
tion worldwide because of the low cost compared to those of
other sources. Feasibility and characteristics of S. chinensis seed
oil, food processing waste, as biodiesel feedstock were studied
here and evaluated for the first time. We analysed physicochem-
ical properties of SC seed oil, heterogeneous catalyst (modified
calcite) preparation and characterisation, optimisation of cataly-
sis conditions, crude product purification, and fuel properties. The
results showed that SC seed oil had relatively high oil content
(29.37 ± 0.64 wt.%), appropriate acid value (2.70 ± 0.14 mg KOH/g)
for direct alkaline catalysis, and low iodine value (72.45 ± 1.13 g
I2 /100 g). With the low proportion of saturation (Cn: 0, 8.06 wt.%),
high C16:1 and C18:1 content (80.16 wt.%), and the low polyun-
saturated fatty acid content (Cn: 2, 3, and 8.45 wt.%), SC biodiesel
demonstrated superior fuel properties. Apart from the advantages
mentioned above, the use of SC seed oil as a biodiesel feedstock will
not compete with food uses. SC seed oil from food processing waste
should be recommended as a promising feedstock for biodiesel.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports by
the Science and Technology Foundation of Guizhou Province,
China (No. [2012]2023); Key Subject Construction Programme for
Guizhou, China (No. 2012); Scientific and Technological Innovation
Team for Guizhou Fruit Processing and Storage, China (No. (2013)
4028).
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