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Biodiesel Derived from a Model Oil Enriched in Palmitoleic Acid, Macadamia Nut Oil

2010; American Chemical Society; Volume: 24; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1021/ef9013295

1520-5029

Gerhard Knothe,

Lipid metabolism and biosynthesis

Numerous vegetable oils, animal fats, or other feedstocks have been investigated to obtain biodiesel, defined as the monoalkyl esters of vegetable oils and animal fats. While biodiesel is competitive with petrodiesel, technical problems facing biodiesel include cold flow and oxidative stability. Most biodiesel fuels largely contain five fatty acids, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic fatty acids, in varying amounts in their fatty acid profiles. Dependent upon the major fatty acids present, biodiesel from different feedstocks faces these technical problems with varying severity. As previous work has indicated, enrichment of other fatty acids, such as decanoic or palmitoleic acid, in the fatty acid profile may be advantageous to address the technical issues facing biodiesel. In this work, an oil moderately enriched in palmitoleic acid (approximately 16−20%), macadamia nut oil, was selected for producing the corresponding biodiesel fuel and investigating its fuel properties. Methyl esters of macadamia nut oil were prepared by conventional transesterification with sodium methoxide. Fuel properties, such as cetane number, kinematic viscosity, oxidative stability, cold flow, as well as lubricity, are discussed in light of biodiesel standards. The approximately 15% content of saturated fatty esters in macadamia nut oil affects cold flow. The 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum of macadamia methyl esters is also reported.