Biodiesel production using novel solvent from agricultural crop Cannabis sativa L. and Sapium sebiferum L. and their fuel properties characterisation using blends

Biodiesel to replace fossil diesel demand by 10-20 % has made it meet sustainability goals worldwide. Various feedstocks like edible and non -edible have been experimented with for biodiesel production and are still of research interest, but the biodiesel production processes are time-consuming and energy intensive. In the present study, non -edible feed, namely Cannabis Sativa L. and Sapium sebiferum L., was explored and the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was synthesised at ambient temperature using a novel solvent with FAME yield of 98.7 and 97.8 %, respectively. The three plausible mechanisms and technical innovation of novel solvent were also discussed. All the physicochemical properties for the produced biodiesel and prepared biodiesels blends were found as per ASTM/BIS specifications and corroborated by spectroscopic and analytical techniques. The characteristic ester peak (C=O) at 1740 cm -1 and methoxy (O-CH3) at 1485 cm -1 using FTIR confirmed the successful biodiesel production.