Investigation of Solvents Efficiencies on Oil Extraction and Biodiesel Production from Hura Crepitans Seeds

Solvent extraction of oil from seeds of Hura crepitans was carried out with a Soxhlet apparatus, using various solvents. Based on the percentage oil (w/w) obtained from the pulverized seed cotyledon, n-hexane was found to be the most efficient solvent for oil extraction. Base-catalyzed trans-esterification, using methanol, was done to process biodiesel from the extracted oil with 95% (v/v) biodiesel yield. The biodiesel was subsequently tested for its fuel properties and found to conform well to ASTM and EN biodiesel standards.