Egyptian Journal of Petroleum 27 (2018) 979–984

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Egyptian Journal of Petroleum

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Full Length Article

Castor oil biodiesel production and optimization

S.T. Keera ⇑, S.M. El Sabagh, A.R. Taman
Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, 1 Ahmed El-Zomor Street, El-Zohour Region, Nasr City, Cairo 11727, Egypt

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Biodiesel is evolving to be one of the most employed biofuels for partial replacement of petroleum based
Received 20 November 2017 diesel fuel, especially in recent years. The most widely used feedstocks for biodiesel production are
Revised 7 February 2018 vegetable oils. In this work, biodiesel production from castor oil has been synthesized by homogenous
Accepted 22 February 2018
alkaline transesterification. The influence of catalyst concentration, methanol:oil molar ratio, reaction
Available online 7 May 2018
temperature and reaction time in the methyl ester content reached by castor oil transesterification have
been evaluated. A yield of 95 wt% biodiesel was achieved at 1 wt% KOH, 60 °C, 9:1 methanol:oil ratio and
Keywords:
30 min reaction time. Transesterification at temperature 30 °C gave a yield compatibles with that
Biodiesel fuel
Castor oil
obtained at 60 °C. The composition of the fatty acid methyl ester was determined by Gas
Transesterification Chromatography. The castor oil biodiesel produced was blended with different concentrations of petro-
Gas chromatography diesel to obtain B5, B10 and B20. The biodiesel properties and its blends were determined according to
Biodiesel properties the standard test methods of analysis. The results showed that Castor oil biodiesel in the blends could
lower the cloud point value, but simultaneously, increases the viscosity of the diesel–biodiesel blends.
Thus, castor oil biodiesel with its very low cloud and pour points is suitable for using in extreme winter
temperatures.
Ó 2018 Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
The depletion of the petroleum reserves, high oil prices and to
limit greenhouse gas emissions make renewable energy sources
more attractive [1]. One of the best ways to reduce our dependence
on petroleum reserves is to develop renewable fuels such as bio-
diesel [2].
Biodiesel is receiving international attention because of its fuel
properties and compatibility [3]. It has better properties than that
of petrodiesel such as renewable, higher biodegradability than
fossil fuels, non-toxic, excellent lubricity and essentially free of
sulphur and aromatics. Biodiesel fuel has the potential to reduce
the level of pollutants and probable carcinogens [4]. It is an envi-
ronmentally friendly fuel that can be used in any diesel engine
without the need to redesign the current technology [5]. It has bet-
ter quality exhaust gas emission since the organic carbon present
in it is photosynthetic in origin. It does not contribute to increase
the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and consequently
to the greenhouse effect [6]. In spite of higher emission level of
NOx, the emission from biodiesel combustion contained lower
amounts of CO, CO2, HC and smoke [7].
Peer review under responsibility of Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: keerasafaa@yahoo.com (S.T. Keera).
The most widely used feedstocks for biodiesel production are
vegetable oils. Among them, castor oil has two interesting
phenomena as biodiesel raw material; on one hand, it does not
compete with edible oils; on the other, its cultivation does not
need high inputs [8].
Castor oil extracts from the seeds, usually contain 40–55% of oil,
a very high potential as compared to most other commonly used
oil crops (soybean: 15–20% (w/w), sunflower: 25–35% (w/w),
rapeseed: 38–46% (w/w), and palm: 30–60% (w/w) [9]. In addition,
the cost of cultivation can be 50% of the cost of cultivation rapeseed
and 25% of the cost of cultivation jatropha. In addition, because
castor bean is not suitable for human consumption, its use as
energy source does not compete with food production.
Castor oil contains 80–90% of hydroxyl fatty acid, ricinoleic acid
(Scheme 1) and about10% non-hydroxylated fatty acids, mainly
oleic and linoleic acids. Such especial composition causes a disad-
vantage for its use for biodiesel production, since its viscosity is
about 7 times higher than the one of other vegetable oils [10]. To
avoid this disadvantage, castor oil biodiesel when blends with pet-
rodiesel it has achieved effective specifications in standards [11].
The presence of the hydroxyl group (–OH) attached to the hydro-
carbon chain in ricinoleic acid of the castor oil molecule makes
castor oil chemically quite different from the other oils; especially
its elevated viscosity and polarity render it extremely valuable for
the industrial production of coatings, plastics and cosmetics [12].

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2018.02.007
1110-0621/Ó 2018 Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
980 S.T. Keera et al. / Egyptian Journal of Petroleum 27 (2018) 979–984
Scheme 1.
Increases the lubricity as compared to normal vegetable oils and
becomes effective as additive for diesel fuel [13]. Increase its solu-
bility in alcohol, leads to a lower melting point [14] and better oxi-
dation stability [15]. It has excellent cold flow properties due to its
high content of unsaturated fatty acid [16]. Due its very high solu-
bility in alcohol castor oil can be converted to biodiesel [17] even at
low temperature [18].
The high viscosity of vegetable oils as compared to petrodiesel
leads to unfavorable pumping and spray characteristics [19]. As a
result, vegetable oils can cause poor fuel atomization, incomplete
combustion, and carbon deposition on the injector and valve seats;
all resulting in serious engine fouling [20]. Consequently, to reduce
the viscosity of vegetable different ways have been studied, such as
blending with diesel [20], micro-emulsions [21], thermal cracking
[22], and transesterification [23]. The most common method is
the transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats. In this reac-
tion, triglycerides react in the presence of a catalyst with an alcohol
with short-chain [24,25] to produce diglycerides, and then diglyc-
erides react to produce monoglycerides. Then, monoglycerides
react with alcohol to give ester and glycerol as a byproduct, as
follows:
catalyst
TG þ ROH ƒƒƒ
ƒƒƒ
ƒ!ƒ DGðdiglyceridesÞ þ RCO2 R
DG þ ROH ƒƒƒ
catalyst
ƒƒƒ
ƒ!ƒ MGðmonogltceridesÞ þ RCO2 R
catalyst
MG þ ROH ƒƒƒ
ƒƒƒ
ƒ!ƒ RCO2 RðesterÞ þ GLðglycerolÞ
The transesterification is usually carried out using primary and
secondary alcohols [26]. Methanol is the most used alcohol
because it is the least expensive alcohol and it shows chemical
advantages such as its shorter chain and its polar nature [27,28].
Besides it does not form zoetrope, so it is the easier in recovery
than ethanol [29]. Transesterification can be carried out using acids
(heterogeneous), alkalis (homogeneous), or enzymes as catalysts
for the reaction.
There is a lot of work of castor oil transesterification through
homogeneous catalysts. De Oliveira et al. [30] studied the influence
of NaOH concentration (0.5–1.5 wt%), ethanol:oil molar ratio (3:1–
9:1) and reaction temperature (30–70 °C) and time (1–3 h), 96.2%
of conversion was reached under the optimal conditions (0.5 wt%
catalyst, 3:1 ethanol:oil, 70 °C and 3 h). Lima da Silva et al. [31]
used RSM to optimize the transesterification reaction of castor oil
using ethanol as alcohol and sodium ethoxide as catalyst. The stud-
ied parameters were reaction temperature (30–80 °C), catalyst
concentration (0.5–1.5 wt%) and ethanol:oil molar ratio (12:1–
20:1). The optimal yield (93.78 wt%) of ester content was reached
at 30 °C with large catalyst content and lower ethanol:oil molar
ratio or with lower catalyst content and large alcohol percentage.
Meneghetti et al. [32] studied a comparison of ethanolysis versus
methanolysis and reported that similar yields could be obtained
using both alcohols but reaction time for methanolysis was
shorter. Canoira et al. [33] achieved total transesterification
conversion using 1 wt% CH3ONa, 5:1 methanol:oil molar ratio
and 40 °C. Dias et al. [34] grew castor plants, extracted its oil and
produced biodiesel. The optimal ester content was 83.41 wt% at
reaction time 8 h and 65 °C. Results of biodiesel production from
castor oil were analyzed studying by Response Surface Methodol-
ogy and a quadratic polynomial model was achieved. About 97
wt% methyl ester content achieved in 18.8:1 methanol:oil molar
ratio (0.064 mol L1 of CH3OK), 45 °C and 10 min of reaction time
[35]. Castor oil biodiesel yield of 91% (w/w) was obtained at 50
min, 55 °C and 12:1 methanol/oil using 14 wt% iron (II) doped
ZnO nanocatalyst [36]. Swaroopa et al., achieved optimum castor
biodiesel conversion of 93 wt% at 4 h, 1:250 oil:Me OH molar ratio,
1 wt% NaOH and 40◦C [37].
The objective of this study was to report experimental data on
the production of fatty acid methyl esters from castor oil using
KOH as a catalyst and investigate the factors affecting the yield
of biodiesel production from castor oil.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Refined castor oil supplied by Morgan Company for Chemical
Industry, was transesterified using anhydrous methanol and KOH
pellets.
2.2. Transesterification experiments
Transesterification reactions were performed in a 250 ml batch
reactor equipped with a reflux condenser and a magnetic stirrer,
the reaction mixture containing castor oil, methanol and the cata-
lyst (KOH). The oil is first loaded into the reactor, and the temper-
ature adjusted to the desired value. Once the oil reached this value,
the alcohol catalyst mixture is added to the reactor and the reac-
ð1Þ tion mixture was continuously stirred at 400 rpm. The experiments
were carried out and adopted considering the variables, tempera-
ð2Þ tures (30 & 60 °C) and methanol:castor oil molar ratios (6:1–
24:1), catalyst concentrations (0.5–2 wt%) of castor oil; and
reaction time of (30–120) min. After an appropriate period of time,
ð3Þ excess alcohol was evaporated at a mild temperature under mod-
erate vacuum on a rotary evaporator. The mixture was transferred
to a separating funnel, and then allowed to stand for phase
separation.
After phase separation the remaining mixture was neutralized
and subsequently traces of catalyst and alcohol were washed out
from the ester mixture with distilled water until the water layer
remains completely translucent. The methyl ester was heated at
110 °C for 30 min followed by addition of anhydrous calcium chlo-
ride to get rid of any water. All experiments were done in triplicate,
and the average data are presented. Biodiesel from castor oil was
blended in different ratios with petroleum diesel to obtain B5,
B10 and B20.
2.3. Gas chromatography analysis
The methyl ester was analyzed by using gas chromatography.
The analysis was carried out by using an Agilent 6890 plus
equipped with a HP50+ capillary column (0.53 mm  30 m, 0.5
lm films) and flame ionization detector. Pure nitrogen was used
as a carrier gas. The oven temperature program varied from 60 to
260 °C at a fixed rate of 4 °C/min. The temperature of the injector
and detector was 300 °C.
The methyl ester was then subjected to characterization for
estimating its fuel properties using ASTM and IP Standard test
methods of analysis for petroleum products [38,39]. Blends of
diesel–biodiesel up to 20% biodiesel are recommended because of
the improvement in performance and emissions comparing to
petrodiesel [40].
 S.T. Keera et al. / Egyptian Journal of Petroleum 27 (2018) 979–984 981

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Effect of variables

The influence of catalyst concentration, methanol:oil molar

ratio as well as temperature, on reaction yield, was investigated.

3.1.1. Effect of catalyst concentration

Fig. 1 represents the yield of methyl esters at different catalytic
concentrations (0.5–2 wt%), reaction time (30–120 min) while
maintaining the temperature and methanol:oil molar ratio con-
stant at 60 °C and 9:1, respectively. It is observed that the lower
catalyst concentration of 0.5% KOH is insufficient for completion
of the reaction; the yield of castor oil methyl ester, COME is 65%.
By increasing the catalyst concentration to 1%, the yield of COME
increases to 95%. Further increase in the catalyst concentration
produces a yield decrease. This behavior is due to the high concen-
tration of an alkaline catalyst which prevail the saponification Fig. 2. Yield of methyl ester at different molar ratios (6:1–24:1 M) as a function of
time, 60 °C temperature and 1 wt% catalyst concentration.
reaction which forms soaps in the presence of fatty acids resulting
in emulsion formation between soaps and water molecules [41].
Thus, 1 wt% catalyst concentration considered to be the optimum
catalyst concentration for our study.

3.1.2. Effect of molar ratio

The stoichiometry ratio of the transesterification reaction
requires 3 mol of methanol to yield 1 mol of glycerol and 3 mol of
methyl ester. Being a reversible reaction, excess methanol is used
to shift the reaction to the right. The reaction was carried out by
varying methanol:oil molar ratios from 6:1 to 24:1, reaction time
(30–120 min) while maintaining the reaction at 60 °C and 1 wt% cat-
alyst (Fig. 2). It is clear that, 6:1 methanol:oil molar ratio led to 75 wt
% methyl ester yield; however, this alcohol concentration did not
lead to spontaneous phase separation. Through increasing metha-
nol:oil molar ratio from 6:1 to 9:1 separation between the transes-
terification products became possible provides an increase of the
methyl ester yield to 95%. Then, the yield decreases from 95% to
45% with increasing molar ratio to 24:1, this is due to accumulation
of methanol and viscous nature of the fluid [42].

3.1.3. Effect of temperature
Reaction temperature is another important criterion that will
affect the yield of biodiesel. An experiment was run at the optimal
condition, 1 wt% catalyst, 9:1 methanol:oil molar ratio, reaction
time (30–120 min) and temperature 30 °C as shown in Fig. 3. It is
illustrated that, the steady state of the reaction is reached within
a short period of time (30 min) because of the polarity of ricinoleic
Fig. 3. Yield of methyl ester at different temperatures (30 & 60 °C) as a function of
time, 9:1 methanol:oil molar ratio and 1 wt% catalyst concentration.
acid and methanol, providing an elevated miscibility of castor oil in
this alcohol. This happened due to the high miscibility of castor oil
in methanol at room temperature. But after 30 min of the reaction
this variable is not somewhat important. It is clear that the ester
yield between 30 °C and 60 °C changes by only 2% wt. Hence the
reaction to be occurs at 30 °C is very suitable.

3.2. Fatty acid profile of castor oil

The fatty acid composition of indigenous castor oil was

determined by means of gas chromatography as described in the
literature [43]. The results are reported in Table 1. The results

Table 1
Composition of biodiesel obtained by castor oil transesterification using GC.

Fatty acid Carbon number chain Wt, %

Ricinoleic C 18:1-OH 89.27
Linoleic C18:2 4.21
Oleic C 18:1 3.53
Stearic C 18:0 0.16
Palmitic C 16:0 0.92
Fig. 1. Yield of methyl ester at different catalyst concentrations 5–2.0 wt%) as a
Linolenic C 18:3 0.91
function of reaction time, 60 °C temperature and 9:1 methanol:oil molar ratio.
982 S.T. Keera et al. / Egyptian Journal of Petroleum 27 (2018) 979–984

Fig. 4. Fatty acid methyl esters of the castor oil.

Table 2
Physico-chemical properties of COME (B100) and Petrodiesel (B0) blends.

Specification Castor oil Diesel oil B5 B10 B20 B100

Density at 15.56 °C, g/cm3 0.9621 0.8379 0.8435 0.8491 0.8595 0.9461
T.A.N mg KOH/g 1.19 0.12 0.15 0.20 0. 26 0.63
Kinematic.vis.at 40 °C, cSt 231.22 2.42 2.66 3.14 3.73 15.40
Pour point, °C 6 9 12 18 30
Cloud point, °C 3 6 9 18
Total Sulphur, wt% Nil 0.85 0. 15 0. 03 0. 01 Nil
Flash point, °C 228 69 79 85.9 89.1 194
Calorific value, MJ/kg 37.20 44 45.61 43.59 43.44 38.34
Water content, % 0.34 0.02 0.032 0.041 0.06 0.15
Cetane number 51 50.6 49.1 48.8 43.7

obtained are very much consistent with those reported in other
research workers [44]. Just like other vegetable oils, castor oil is a
triglyceride of various fatty acids and about 10% glycerin. The fatty
acids consist of approximately 80–90% ricinoleic acid, 3–6% linoleic
acid, 2–4% oleic acid and 1-5.5 saturated fatty acids. The high con-
tent of ricinoleic acid is the reason for the versatility of castor oil
in technology [45,46]. Fig. 4 presents a typical chromatogram for
the COME. One can see the formation of a major peak of methyl ester
that referrers to methyl ricinoleate, which the result of methanolysis
of ricinoleic acid, the main component of castor oil.
3.3. Physico-chemical characterization of the COME and its blends
Six different volumes based blends were prepared from Diesel:
COME mixtures [100:0 (B0), 95:5(B5), 90:10(B10), 80:20(B20) and
0:100(B100]. Properties of the blends were subjected to evaluation
according to standard test methods of analysis and were tabulated
in Table 2.
fluid motion. Viscosity is the major reason why fats and oils are
transesterified to biodiesel. The viscosity of biodiesel is approxi-
mately an order of magnitude lower than that of the starting oil
or fat. Table 2 shows that castor oil has a high viscosity (231.22
cSt at 40 °C). As a result, biodiesel produced from castor oil
(B100) has extremely high viscosity value (15.40 cSt) exceeding
by far the international standard limit. This has been attributed
to the presence of OH groups in ricinoleic acid tend to form hydro-
gen bonds with other hydrogen atoms present in other molecules
[16]. Consequently, it can be suggested to mix this COME with pet-
rodiesel in different proportions in order to reach the viscosity
specification. The lower the viscosity of the oil, the easier it is to
pump and atomize and achieve finer droplets. It is evident from
Table 2 that there is an increase in viscosity with corresponding
increase in COME percentage in the blends. B5, B10 and B20 give
the viscosity values 2.66, 3.14 and 3.73 cSt respectively, which
within the accepted standard range of viscosity. So COME treated
with petrodiesel oil will has better injection characteristics.

3.3.1. Viscosity 3.3.2. Density

Viscosity is a measure of the internal fluid friction or resistance Table 2 shows that the density of pure COME (0.9461) is out of
of oil to flow, which tends to oppose any dynamic change in the the range of international standard limit. The high density of this
 S.T. Keera et al. / Egyptian Journal of Petroleum 27 (2018) 979–984
COME is a consequence of the presence of the hydroxyl group of
the ricinoleic acid methyl ester. COME can be mixed with diesel
up to 20% without exceeding the standard accepted ratio for
biodiesel density. The density improved with decreasing COME
concentration in the blend. From Table 2, the respective values
for B20, B10 and B5 present 0.8595, 0.8491 and 0.8435
respectively.
3.3.3. Cloud point and pour point
The two important parameters for low temperature applica-
tions of a fuel are cloud point (CP) and pour point (PP). The CP is
the temperature at which wax first becomes visible when the fuel
is cooled. The PP is the temperature at which the amount of wax
out of solution is sufficient to gel the fuel, thus it is the lowest tem-
perature at which the fuel can flow.
It is generally known that biodiesel has higher CP and PP com-
pared to conventional Diesel, meanwhile methyl esters of castor oil
has a very low cloud and pour points which make this biofuel con-
sidered to be a good alternative in winter conditions. So a blend of
COME with petrodiesel (Table 2) shows good flow properties and
the properties improved with increasing COME concentration in
the blend. B5, B10 and B20 give, cloud point -3, -6, -9 and pour
point -9, -12,-18 respectively. It indicates that castor oil biodiesel
also could be used as petroleum diesel additive for improving cold
flow properties.
3.3.4. Sulphur content
It is clear that castor oil is sulphur free (Table 2). Consequently
COME (B100) is sulphur free. This is one of the major advantages of
this biodiesel. Blend of COME with petrodiesel shows a decrease in
sulphur content with increasing COME in the blend from B5 to B20
(0. 15–0. 01 wt%), while that of petrodiesel is 0.85 wt%. This low
sulphur has advantages both for the environment and the engine
life. Low sulphur is required to reduce exhaust emissions.
3.3.5. Flash point
Flash point is the temperature at which the fuel can ignite when
exposed to a heat source. It is important from the point of view of
safe handling, storage and transportation. It is known that high
flash point ensures more safety in the handling and storage. It is
clear from Table 2 that Castor Oil has its value 228 °C and after
transesterification it is 194 °C which higher than that of diesel
(69 °C) and so why safe to store. It is noticed that the flash point
increases with increase COME in the blend from, 79, 85.9 and
89.1 °C for B5, B10 and B20 respectively. Hence castor oil biodiesel
blend can be used as a flash point enhancing additive and can be
classified as a non-hazardous fuel.
3.3.6. Calorific value
It is the amount of heating energy released by combustion of a
unit value of fuel. Calorific value increases with increasing chain
length and decreases with increasing unsaturation, and it is impor-
tant for estimating the fuel consumption, the greater the calorific
value the lower the fuel consumption. The calorific value of the
pure COME and its blend with petrodiesel is summarized in Table 2.
Its value for castor oil is 37.20 MJ/kg and after transesterification it
is 38.34 MJ/kg which lower than that of diesel (45.75 MJ/kg). There
is a decrease in calorific value with increase in blending ratio. The
calorific values from B5 to B20 represent (45.61–43.44 MJ/kg), so
more fuel will be consumed to produce the same power when pet-
rodiesel blend is used.
3.3.7. Water content
Because castor oil is highly hygroscopic, water content might
also be higher than desirable, so its water content gives 0.34%
(Table 2). Consequently water content of castor biodiesel is also
983
high (0.15%) meanwhile that of petrodiesel is 0.02%. Water in the
biodiesel can promote microbial growth, lead to tank corrosion,
participate in the formation of emulsions, as well as cause
hydrolysis or hydrolytic oxidation. Hence to overcome such issues,
its blend with diesel has proven effective up 20% to comply with
specifications in standards.
3.3.8. Total acid number
The data (Table 2) reveal that 1.19 mg KOH/g is the total acid
number of castor oil. COME has 0.63 mg KOH/g which exceeds that
of diesel (0.12 mg KOH/g). Blend with concentration up to 20%
COME could be acceptable. The total acid number decreases almost
linearly with decreasing percentage of biodiesel in the blend and
B5 gives the best value (0.15 mg KOH/g).
3.3.9. Cetane number
CN is a measure of biodiesel ignition quality, which decreases
with decreasing chain length and increasing branching and unsat-
uration. It is a measure of the fuel ignition delay, higher CN value
indicating shorter time between initiation of fuel injection and
ignition. Table 2 present cetane number of petrodiesel is 51. Cetane
number of COME is lower, regarding to the consequence of the
presence of the free hydroxyl group of castor oil molecule, besides
the presence of the double bonds of the ricinoleic acid. Cetane
number of COME gives 43.7. This value is lower than that of stan-
dard. A possible solution to meet the standard 47 is the blending
with petrodiesel. The results show that, B5, B10 and B20 give
50.6, 49.1 and 48.8 cetane numbers respectively.
4. Conclusion
- Castor oil biodiesel fuel properties are within the recommended
standards of biodiesel fuel except the viscosity.
- Biodiesel obtained from castor oil has a very low cloud and pour
points which makes this biodiesel a good alternative in winter
conditions.
- Castor oil biodiesel could be used as petroleum diesel additive
for improving both environmental and flow behavior of the
mineral fuel.
- Castor oil biodiesel has a lower cetane number value (43.7)
compared to petrodiesel (51).
- The blend B5 (biodiesel 5% to petrodiesel 95%) gave the best
cetane number value (50.6).
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