Abstract
Yucca aloifolia Linn (Y. aloifolia) is a drought-resistant arid land plant that grows in most soil types. In this work, Y. aloifolia seed oil (YAO) was evaluated for the first time as a potential biodiesel feedstock, which contains 16.23% oil (w/w) whereas the acidity of the oil was 11%. Two step processes i.e. acid-catalyzed esterification to reduce the acid value of YAO and then standard base-catalyzed transesterification procedure were used to synthesis the Y. aloifolia methyl esters (Yame) at optimization conditions. YAO has a high content of linoleic acid (70.77 %) followed by oleic acid (12%), and palmitic acid (8.59%). The fuel properties of biodiesel derived from YAO including density, iodine value, kinematic viscosity, cetane number, flash point, pour point, cloud point, and gross heating value were evaluated and compared with the limits of ASTM 06751 standards. The comparison showed that the biodiesel obtained from Y. aloifolia oil could be used as an alternative fuel for diesel engines. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.