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Abstract.

Castor oil is non-edible and the plant presently, grows in the wild and refuses dump sites in Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria. The aim of this study was to blend castor biodiesel with conventional diesel at different blending ratios, investigate the physicochemical properties of different blended through the standard procedure and derive mathematical equations for each property by simple regression model which can help to predict the properties at any blending ratio.

Castor oil was extracted and converted into fuel through transesterification process. The oil was expressed from collected seeds, kept settled, filtered and transesterified using methanol as alcohol and Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) as the catalyst. Every 250ml of castor oil required 62.3 ml of methanol and Potassium Hydroxide was 1% by weight of the Methanol used. The castor biodiesel was blended with conventional diesel in different volumetric percentages, blend of castor biodiesel and conventional diesel, B5 to B25 in steps 5, B50 and B100 were produced and physico-chemical properties of blended biodiesel were examined and compared with the standards. The properties of various blends such as density, kinematic viscosity, flash point, specific gravity and fire point were examined and measured.

The result of physico-chemical properties indicated the calorific value of diesel fuel to range from (41, 800, 41,620, 41,410, 41,230, 40, 200, 39, 500 to 38, 470 kJ/kg for B5, B10, B15, B20, B25, B50 and B100, respectively. The research revealed that castor biodiesel blends (B5 – B25) were within the range of different specification standards (ASTM D-6751 of USA, EN-14214 of Europe and IS-15607 of India). Hence, the viscosity of raw castor oil reduces after transesterification but, higher than conventional diesel, the same was applicable to density, specific gravity and flash point of the fuel while the calorific value of castor fuel produced was found to be lower compared to mineral diesel. Regression equations were derived to predict the properties at different blending ratio.

The developed equations show higher coefficient of regression values of 0.9965, 0.9623, 0.9066 and 0.9034 for density, kinematic viscosity, flash point and calorific value, respectively between biodiesel properties and blending percentages. Blending ratio up to 0.25 was recommended as optimum blending ratio while taking standard into consideration.