Vol. 12, Issue 4 (2023)

Author(s):
Nisarga BS, Uday Kumar SN and Krishna Murthy R

Abstract:
Mesua ferrea is a promising tree-borne oilseed for biodiesel production. In recent years, there have been growing concerns about the utility of tree-borne oilseeds as an alternative source of energy. The potential of Mesua seeds as feedstock for biodiesel production was not exploited and only very little research has been carried out. The present study was conducted in different locations to identify the provenance variation in Mesua ferrea seed oil. The Mesua ferrea oil was analysed for different qualitative and quantitative parameters. The results showed that highest oil yield was noticed in the Sagara of Shivamogga and the highest acid, iodine and saponification value were recorded in Tanimani, Megaravalli-1 and Sampaje respectively. The highest calorific value and viscosity were observed in Megharavalli-1 and the highest density was observed in Tanimani. The GC-MS chromatogram of the oil indicated the presence of 5 to 10 compounds, of which 4 to 5 were identified as the major compounds viz., oleic acid range from 45.25-52.32 percent, linoleic acid range from 15.54-28.43 percent, palmitic acid range from 16.29-20.43 percent, stearic acid range from 7.34-14.9 percent and arachidic acid range from 0.50-1.32 percent. The properties of Mesua ferrea biodiesel decreased with transesterification compared to Mesua ferrea oil. The oil and biodiesel properties of Mesua ferrea were within the international standards of ASTM and BIS. So that the seeds from the Mesua ferrea tree can be used as an alternative source for biodiesel production.