- The adverse environmental impact and rapid depletion of fossil fuel has resulted in the search of environmentally friendly and renewable energy. Among various alternatives for fossil fuel, biodiesel is emerging as a promising choice for compression ignition engine due to its renewable nature and superior emission characteristics. However, the cost of biodiesel is at present relatively higher than that of diesel as the feed stock come principally from edible oils. This research work focused on biodiesel production using low cost oil and catalyst as a means of reduction of biodiesel cost. The waste avocado fruit oil (WAFO) was extracted using solvent extraction method. The oil was characterized based on American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) method. The fatty acid profile and the functional group of the oil were determined using gas chromatography mass spectrometry and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy respectively. The fuel properties of the waste avocado fruit oil fatty acid methyl ester (WAFOFAME) produced was determined based on ASTM standards. The physiochemical properties of WAFO: free fatty acid, saponification value, iodine value , kinematic viscosity, fire point, flash point, cloud point, pour point, density , moisture content, gave the values 7.15%, 201.4mgKOH/g, 74.8gI2/100g, 38.5mm2 s1 @ 400C, 1670C, 1200C, 130C, 30C 919Kg/m3 , 6% respectively. The fatty acid profile of WAFO shows the constituents saturated fatty acids to be lauric acid 12.30%, palmitic acid 24.20%, stearic acid 18.20%, myristic acid 14.54%, while the unsaturated fatty acid constituents are linolenic acd 10.61%,, sapentaenoic acid 12.57%, and linoleic acid 7.55%. The experimentally determined properties of the WAFOFAME: acid value, density, kinematic viscosity, flash point, cetane number, water and sediments, calorific value, iodine value, cloud point and pour point gave the values, 0.45mgg-1 , 873Kg/m3 , 4.95mm2 s -1 , 1600C, 62.69, 34.683MJ/Kg, 34.2gI2/100g, 70C, 40C respectively. The X- ray fluorescence analysis showed the chemical composition of the clinker catalyst; CaO , SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, MgO, SO2, K2O, Na2O, P2O3, TiO2 as 66.6%,, 21.9%, 6.38%, 4.10%, o.72%, 0.47%, 0.90%, 0.2%, 0.03%, 0.31% respectively. The engine emission test revealed increase in carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon emission (HC) emission with engine load. Again, CO and HC emission decreased with increase in biodiesel content of the blend while nitrogen oxides (NOx) increased with increase of engine load as well as increase in biodiesel content of the blends.

Keywords : Calcined cement clinker catalyst, engine emission test, engine load, esterification, transesterification, waste avacado fruit oil biodiesel.