Prevention of Biodeterioration of Biodiesel Produced from Castor Seed Oil via the use of Antimicrobial Agents

Authors: Obeni MP, Esenogho GO, Amenaghawon NA, Obahiagbon KO

DOI Info: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6722444

ABSTRACT

This research is based on the investigation of the possible use of antimicrobial agents such as ethanol and extracts from locally sourced Mitracarpus scaber to prevent biodeterioration of biodiesel. Four castor oil biodiesel samples under various treatment conditions (containing different volumes of antimicrobial agents) and a control (without antimicrobial agents) were monitored for five weeks to check for likely variation in some of the biodeterioration indicating parameters such as acid value (AV), flash point (FP) and cetane number (CN). Results obtained for the control experiment indicated biodeterioration of the biodiesel sample as the presence of microbial activity was noticed from the variation in the AV, FP, and CN. Results obtained also showed that microbial proliferation was mitigated when antimicrobial agents were introduced to the biodiesel samples as seen in the most stable values of acid value, flash point, and cetane number. Of all the samples analyzed, sample A containing the highest percentage of Mitracarpus scaber extract performed best as can be seen from the most stable values of acid value, flash point, and cetane number which are some of the most important biodeterioration indicating parameters of biodiesel, which therefore indicates the introduction of stability in the biodiesel samples.

Download Full Text