Date of Publication

2009

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Chemical Engineering

Subject Categories

Chemical Engineering

College

Gokongwei College of Engineering

Department/Unit

Chemical Engineering

Thesis Adviser

Florinda T. Bacani
Susan A. Roces
Raymond Girard R. Tan

Defense Panel Chair

Joseph Auresenia

Defense Panel Member

Josephine Q. Borja
Marylou M. Uy

Abstract/Summary

Biodiesel, an alternative diesel fuel, has become more attractive recently because it has a lot of environmental benefits. It is made from renewable biological sources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. Furthermore, it is biodegradable, nontoxic and has low emission profiles. Considerable research has been done on biodiesel from vegetable oil of palm, soybean, sunflower, coconut, rapeseed and cottonseed as diesel fuel. However, these products are usually used as food, thus there is a problem between fuel energy demand and the food supply. Alternative feedstock has been being investigated, one of them is oil from Kenaf seed which was found to be similar to that of Cotton seed oil. Therefore, its potential as a source of oil for Biodiesel production were explored in this study. Moreover, various extraction methods such as Soxhlet extraction, Sonification extraction and Supercritical extraction were studied to extract oil from kenaf seeds. However, the drawbacks of conventional methods are long process time, large energy consumption, solvent volume and with large waste generation. Thus, to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional methods, Microwave-assisted solvent extraction was studied. Factorial design and response surface methodology (RSM) with Central Composite Design (CCD) were used to optimize the microwave-assisted solvent extraction (MASE) of oil from kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) seeds in this study. The optimum operation conditions were finally obtained using ANOVA. A 23 fractional design was initially employed and it was found that solid/solvent ratio, temperature, time and interaction between time and temperature had an effect on extraction yield of kenaf seed oil. Results show that the maximum oil obtained (16.5288%) was at the conditions: solid/solvent ratio of 1:10, 59°C and 19 minutes. The physicochemical properties and fatty acid composition of the kenaf seed oil obtained are determined to test its potential for biodiesel production.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Accession Number

CDTG004661

Shelf Location

Archives, The Learning Commons, 12F Henry Sy Sr. Hall

Physical Description

xvii, 152 leaves ; 28 cm.

Keywords

Kenaf; Biodiesel fuels; Solvent extraction

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