New Technologies, Processing Methods, Equipment / Machineries And Quality Standards On The Production Of Coconut Methyl Ester (CME) As Biofuel Blend For Diesel Engines
In recent years, the production and utilization of fatty acids methyl ester (FAME) biodiesel has become more and more popular. The fatty oil used as the main raw material for making this FAME biodiesel vary from region to region and is usually the one that is most easily available. Coconut Methyl Ester (CME) is, therefore, an important FAME biodiesel in tropical Asia Pacific. This paper explains the favourable as well as unfavourable fuel properties of CME and its components, describes effort to modify western biodiesel quality standards in order to allow the inclusion of CME into the international pool of biodiesel, and elucidates techniques for making CME from coconut oil through conventional transesterification and from coconut press cake through extractive or in-situ transesterification.