Production and Physiochemical Characterization of Biodiesel from Nile cabbage grown in Pager River, Kitgum Municipality, Northern-Uganda

Abstract

Nile cabbage (Pistia stratiotes) represents a promising source of biodiesel which has been garnered due to good biomass yield. This study aims to determine the possibility for biodiesel production from Nile cabbage plants collected from a seasonal Pager River. The bio-oil extraction from Nile cabbage leaves was done using soxhlet apparatus. The biodiesel was produced by transesterification of lipids and characterized by GC-FID and the physio-chemical parameters of the produced biodiesel were also performed. The obtained results indicate that, Nile cabbage sample showed a yield of biodiesel (30.30±0.01) %. The biodiesel obtained possess the following fuel properties: density (880.00±0.00)Kg/m3, pH (5.70±0.00), saponification value (137.10±0.09) mg KOH/g, acid value (1.00±0.00) mg KOH/g, iodine value (63.41±0.01) mg I2/100g, flash point (120±0.00)℃, pour point (-6.20±0.03) ℃, colour (brown), moisture content (50.00±0.00)%, and ash content (0.003±0.00)%, and cetane number (49.53±0.05). The GC-FID analysis of the obtained biodiesel showed the presence of C16:0, C18:0, C18:1 and C18:2 as the major constituents of fatty acids (FAs) detected. Therefore, all physiochemical parameters were within the allowable limits, accept only acid value which was slightly higher than the standard limits issued by the American and European (ASTM D 6571:12 and EN 14214:2012) standards. Aquatic weeds are considered a global threat in the aquatic ecosystem, which invoked a lot of attention from the general public and the scientific community. Our findings showed that Nile cabbage biomass could give a significant yield of biodiesel, with desired fuel properties which will initiates a cleaner energy.

Health Risks from Intake and Contact with Toxic Metal-Contaminated Water from Pager River, Uganda

“…The river is located in the Kitgum District (“the place of good luck”), Northern Uganda, East Africa at an elevation of 973 m above sea level ( Figure 1 ) [ 31 ]. It flows through the sub-counties of Labongo Layamo, Labongo Akwang, and Labongo Amida, Kitgum municipality and joins the Achwa River with the Agago River after covering a distance of 194.79 km [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. The Pager River is part of the Achwa River basin, and it was chosen in this study because: (i) its banks have dense settlements (Kitgum Matidi), agricultural farm lands, and car-washing bays that are prone to flooding after its banks burst [ 28 , 31 , 36 , 37 ]; (ii) its location in one of the three districts that suffered the brunt of the Lord’s Resistance Army civil wars in Northern Uganda (between 1986 and 2006) and therefore had the highest number of internally displaced persons in camps [ 38 ]; and (iii) it covers both the nodding syndrome and onchocerciasis-hyperendemic foci that is in proximity to blackfly breeding sites.…”