Biodiesel production from Fructus Schisandrae seed oil

In the present study, we used Fructus Schisandrae as a raw material to produce biodiesel. The seed oil yield of Fructus Schisandrae was found to be 41.926 +/- 0.206%. In the seed oil, major fatty acids were linoleic acid (75.21%) and oleic acid (16.32%). For biodiesel transesterification, we found that immobilized lipase-base catalyzed transesterification using methanol and tert-butanol was the optimal method. In this method, the yield of biodiesel could reach 89.140 +/- 1.270%. Main components of the produced biodiesel were methyl palmitate, methyl oleate and methyl linoleate; methyl linoleate was the most abundant one. The physicochemical properties of the biodiesel met all the standards of biodiesel and the key technical indicators exceeded that of the number zero diesel oil. Our findings not only turn the excessive waste into raw materials for biodiesel, but also have broad application prospects in development of clean energy.