An Investigation into the Biodiesel Properties of Oil Extracted from Three Papaya Cultivars

The trends in energy researches in recent time toward conversion of agricultural residues into useful products so as to solve the problem of climate change and encourage green energy. Pawpaw seed being one of the agricultural residues usually discarded after consumption of its fruit was investigated to study the biodiesel properties of its oil. Three cultivars (solo, maradol and js 22) of ripe pawpaw seeds were used for the research. The three cultivars were obtained from a retail outlet in Ado Ekiti. The seeds were collected, sun dried for five days and dried in an oven at 60 °C for six hours. The dried seeds were milled and oil was extracted using 30 g of milled seeds using solvent method with the aid of soxhlet extractor. The oil yield, specific gravity, free fatty acid, iodine value, saponification value, peroxide value and refractive index were the parameters investigated for biodiesel properties. The result shows that the oil yield is higher with 28, 23 and 23% for maradol, solo and js 22 respectively, although the values are low as compared to other sources of vegetable oil. The specific gravity, iodine value, saponification value, peroxide value, refractive index and free fatty acid value of the oil from the three cultivars are within the range of values for biodiesel production when compared to other oils used as feedstock for biodiesel. The oil from the three cultivars is therefore recommended for biodiesel production