Fuel and Physiochemical Properties of Mango (Mangifera indica) Seed Biodiesel and Its Blends with Diesel

Abstract

The aim of this work is to measure the fuel properties of mango seed biodiesel and its blends with diesel fuel. The oil was extracted by soxhlet extraction method the high Free Fatty Acid ( FFA) value of the oil produced necessitated, acid pretreatment prior to base transesterification with methanol using sodium hydroxide as catalyst which resulted into a considerable reduction of the FFA value from 3.3% to 0.9% and a biodiesel yield of 25.84%. The produced biodiesel was washed, dried and blended 10% (B10) 20% (B20) and 30% (B30) with diesel. They were evaluated following the ASTM and EN protocols. The result obtained shows that the kinematic viscosity at 40ranges between 2.86 and 4.32 cts, flash point ranges between 73 and 145 with the acid number ranging between o.445 and 0.558 mgKOH/g. Other results shows that the biodiesel and its blend have fatty acid of between 0.182 and 0.211 with the carbon residue of between 0.05 and 0.09% the properties of the biodiesel and its blend are close to those of diesel and can thus be used as alternative fuel for diesel engines