Synthesis of Linseed oil Biodiesel using a Non-Catalytic Supercritical Transesterification Process

Due to high energy demand and limited availability of fossil fuels, the energy necessity becomes a point of apprehension as it results in hike of fuel prices. It is essential to develop renewable energy resources while considering the impact on environment. In the last decade, demand of alternative fuels has increased a lot. Therefore, researchers have already started working on the aim of developing a green fuel to overcome the future energy demand. And as we know that the biodiesel is generally prepared from the non-edible and renewable resources thus, it can be among the competitive alternative future fuels. Besides that, it does not require any prior engine modifications for its usual advantage among other alternative fuels while using it within certain boundaries. However, the process biodiesel production is in itself time consuming which increases the cost of production while decreasing the yield. Supercritical method is drawing major attention for its efficient means with overcoming the negatives of conventional production processes. This method generally results in a high conversion rate of triglycerides into the FAME's (fatty acid methyl ester). But, it is confined to vegetable oils having low FFA content. Hence, in the present study, a non-catalytic supercritical trans-esterification process was utilized to produce biodiesel from Linseed oil. The analysis for the influence of temperature and time of run was done on the yield of FAME's, DG and TG. Results revealed that FAME's content increases with increase in temperature and the time of run. However, the pattern was uniform for all initial range of temperatures though a slight decrement was observed at higher temperature due to the thermal degradation of esters.