Production of Biodiesel and Bioethanol from the Legumes of Leucaena leucocephala

This research article is based on the production of biodiesel and bioethanol from Leucaena leucocephala. The legumes of L. leucocephala were collected, dried, grinded and soaked in non-polar solvent (n-hexane) and then after a week it was decanted as n-hexane extract, which was evaporated by the rotary evaporator. It was passed through the column chromatography for its purification. The purified oily content was subjected to transesterification by different methods, which yielded fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) and fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) with different percentage yields. All the reactions were conducted under completely anhydrous condition with fast stirring on hot plate. The biodiesels were identified in comparison with American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM). Similarly, for the production of bioethanol, the residue of the plant was soaked in cold water, hot water, 20% H₂SO₄ and 20% NaOH solution. All of the extracts were evaporated under sunlight. The extracts were subjected to fermentation using the yeast. The bioethanol so produced was identified by the preparation of ethyl benzoate as UV active derivative.