Fatty acids esters were produced from two Nigerian lauric oils, palm kernel oil and coconut oil, by transesterification of the oils with different alcohols using PS30 lipase as a catalyst. In the conversion of palm kernel oil to alkyl esters (biodiesel), ethanol gave the highest conversion of 72%, t-butanol 62%, 1-butanol 42%, n-propanol 42% and iso-propanol 24%, while only 15% methyl ester was observed with methanol. With coconut oil, 1-butanol and iso-butanol achieved 40% conversion, 1-propanol 16% and ethanol 35%, while only traces of methyl esters were observed using methanol. Studies on some fuel properties of palm kernel oil and its biodiesel showed that palm kernel oil had a viscosity of 32.40 mm2/s, a cloud point of 28°C and a pour point of 22°C, while its biodiesel fuel had a viscosity of 9.33 mm2/s, a cloud point of 12°C and a pour point of 8°C. Coconut oil had a viscosity of 28.58 mm2/s, a cloud point of 27°C and a pour point of 20°C, while its biodiesel fuel had a viscosity of 7.34 mm2/s, a cloud point of 5°C and a pour point of - 8°C. Some of the fuel properties compared favourably with international biodiesel specifications.

The process of preparing oil palm seed for planting generates vast quantities of waste pulp. The pulp (ca. 80% oil), for which no use has been found, is indiscriminately dumped because either reprocessing it into a useful product or disposing of it properly is expensive. In situ transesterification of the pulp with methanol and ethanol using sulfuric acid as catalyst was carried out on a laboratory scale. Our aim was to develop a process to recover the largely hydrolytically degraded oil (PV, 25-26; FFA, 25-26%) from the pulp. Acid-catalyzed conversions of the oil into alkyl esters were 96-97% for both methanol and ethanol. The accompanying concentrations of FFA, TG, DG, and MG were low. The identities and proportions of FA ester in the alkyl esters reflected the FA content of the palm oil. The values for the esterified products of some fuel properties such as cloud point and viscosity were slightly below the general current specification. However, with optimization of the reaction conditions and simplification of some of the technical aspects, the waste pulp could be a good source of alkyl esters for both oleochemical and fuel applications.Paper no. J10237 in JAOCS 80, 77-80 (January 2003). KEY WORDS:Alkyl esters, oil palm, palm oil, pulp, transesterification. tory funnel was added 200 mL of distilled water. The re-

No abstract

Amylases are enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds present in starch to release simple sugars. They are one of the most important enzymes in numerous commercial processes. In this investigation, fungal and bacterial strains from the following agro-industrial wastes were isolated and screened for amylolytic ability: soil from oil palm plantation, shea seed, date fruit, coconut meat, cassava effluent, cassava peel, cassava tubers, yam and potato tubers, starch medium, parboiled water from noodles and rice. The results revealed the presence of Geotrichum, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Rhizopus and Fusarium spp. Five major genera of bacterial species namely Corynebacterium, Pseudomonas, Lactobacillus, Micrococcus and Bacillus were isolated and screened for amylase activity. Cassava soil had the highest heterotrophic bacterial count of 5.7 x105cfu/g and coconut meat waste had the lowest heterotrophic bacterial count of 1.3 x105cfu/g. All isolated microorganisms had the amylolytic ability. The fungal isolates had higher amylase activity when compared with the bacterial isolates. This investigation reveals organisms with high amylase activity.

Low quality of shea butter has continued to be a major challenge in the shea tree value chain. The quality and identity characteristics of market-ready shea butter produced by family-based processors, the highest contributors to the butter output in Nigeria were studied using standard methods of analysis for two consecutive fruiting years to ascertain the consistency in quality status. This was with the view to determining the suitable market segment the butter could serve. The result generally show significant inconsistencies in both quality and identity parameters within and among the villages and zones studied for the two years. The free fatty acid (ffa), acid value, peroxide value, anisidine value, iodine value, moisture, dirt unsaponifiable matter, saponification value ranged from 5.40±0.14 to 13.45±0.