Trans Esterification Studies on Castor Oil as a First Step towards Its Use in Bio Diesel Production

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is a fast growing plant of marginal and moderately saline land widely spread throughout tropical regions. It is cultivated at arid coastal sandy belt and inland waste land of Pakistan for obtaining oil from its seeds, which being of medicinal importance is an economical commodity. Facing a great shortage of mineral diesel, scientists are nowadays actively working for converting oil obtained from wild/less commercially important plants into bio diesel for economic purposes. Non-edible oil yielding plants including castor bean, which cannot compete with edible oil yielding plants of commercial importance, are considered good candidates for such research work. The work presented herein deals with the transesterification of oil extracted from castor bean as a step towards possibility of converting it into bio diesel.