Passion Fruit Seed Oil as Alternative ...

The aim of this research was to evaluate potential of passion fruit seeds, an agro-industry byproduct, as a biofuel feedstock. Oil was extracted from the passion fruit seeds, and transesterified to produce biodiesel. KOH was used as a catalyst. The test conditions were methanol and oil molar ratio between 3:1 to 9:1, catalyst concentration of 1 – 2% w/w at a fixed temperature of 65°C. The reaction time was varied between 5 to 120 min. From the experimental results, maximum biodiesel yield of 93% was obtained at methanol and oil molar ratio of 6.5, catalyst concentration of 1.25%, and reaction time of 60 min. The ester content of biodiesel product was over 96.5%, in accordance with the requirements by Thai and international standards.