In this study, Manilkara zapota seed oil was used for biodiesel production. The free fatty acid content of the oil was determined as 5.91 mg KOH/g and hence a two-step acid-base transesterification reaction was followed to convert M. zapota seed oil into biodiesel. The performance variables such as reaction temperature, alcohol to oil ratio, experimental duration, and catalyst weight were optimized using Taguchi orthogonal array. The study revealed a 40°C reaction temperature, 6:1 alcohol-to-oil ratio, 150 min experimental duration, and 1 wt.% NaOH catalyst that were optimal performance variables to obtain maximum conversion efficiency of 97.08%. Among the four performance variables, the alcohol-to-oil ratio was found to be the most effective variable with 84.36% of the contribution. The synthesized Manilkara zapota methyl ester (MZME) procured from seed oil with optimized performance variables matches with the standards of ASME D 6751.

在这项研究中，Manilkara zapota籽油被用于生产生物柴油。确定该油中的游离脂肪酸含量为5.91 mg KOH / g，因此进行了两步酸碱酯交换反应以转化zapota将种子油转化为生物柴油。使用Taguchi正交阵列优化了性能变量，如反应温度，醇/油比，实验时间和催化剂重量。研究表明，反应温度为40°C，醇与油的比例为6：1，实验时间为150分钟，NaOH催化剂的重量百分比为1％，这是最佳的性能变量，可实现97.08％的最大转化率。在这四个性能变量中，发现醇/油比是最有效的变量，占贡献的84.36％。从种子油中获得的合成Manilkara zapota甲酯（MZME）具有优化的性能变量，符合ASME D 6751的标准。