Exploring Onopordum acanthium L. as a sustainable feedstock for biodiesel production: process optimization and characterization

Abstract

The growing demand for sustainable energy solutions has intensified interest in Biofuels.  Petroleum biofuel is non-toxic, eco-friendly, and biodegradable as compared to the diesel. Now a day’s biodiesel is produced by edible oil which comprises food verses oil problem, but it can be solved by using non-edible, using alkaline catalyst and methanol in transesterification method to reduce the FFA contents of the oil. This paper explores the feasibility of converting Onopordum acanthium L. seed oil into biofuel by using a homogenous catalyst (NaOH) 98.13% of high yield was obtained. Other parameters were also tested such as time, methanol to oil molar ratio, catalyst amount and temperature. The obtained biofuel was quantified by Nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), Gas chromatography spectroscopy (GC-MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The physio-chemical properties were also tested and compared with ASTM and EN standards. The research findings have indicated that Onopordum acanthium seed oil is a sustainable option to produce high-yield biodiesel.