Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 49 (2015) 12131220

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

The prospects of using Acrocomia aculeata (macaba) a non-edible

biodiesel feedstock in Brazil
Aldara da Silva Csar a,n, Fabiano de Azedias Almeida b, Raquel Pereira de Souza b,
Gilmar Clemente Silva c, A.E. Atabani d,e
a
Fluminense Federal University, Agribusiness Engineering Department, GASA Grupo de Anlise e Sistemas Agroindustriais, Av. dos Trabalhadores,
420 - Vila Santa Ceclia, Volta Redonda/RJ 27.255-125, Brazil
b
Fluminense Federal University, Agribusiness Engineering Department, Brazil
c
Fluminense Federal University, Exact Science Department, Brazil
d
Energy Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Erciyes University, 38039, Kayseri, Turkey
e
Erciyes Teknoloji Transfer Osi, Erciyes Teknopark Yerleskesi Tekno - 3 Binasi, 2. Kat No: 28 Melikgazi/Kayseria, Turkey

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 30 August 2014
Received in revised form
25 March 2015
Accepted 23 April 2015

Biofuel production has stood out at the international level on account of its more environmentally
sustainable characteristics and the potential to promote rural development in developing countries. In
Brazil, biodiesel is being produced through legislation requiring the addition (currently 7%) of biofuel to
petroleum diesel. The federal program (PNPB) aimed the social inclusion of small farmers and
diversication of Brazilian matrix by incentives regional crops production. The possibility of broadening
raw material sources for biodiesel production benets the Brazilian competitiveness. At the same time,
facing the vast varieties of raw materials available in this country, it is a challenge to gure out which
crop would be more appropriate to this chain. The palm species Acrocomia aculeata (macaba) could
provide an alternative resource for energy diversication in Brazil and Latin American countries. The
crop species has drawn attention due to its high productivity rates and because it is not used for food
purposes. In this sense, this paper examines the opportunity of biodiesel production from A. aculeata as a
potential source for future energy supply, particularly for biodiesel, especially in Brazil. This paper
presents A. aculeata and some points that allow compare with other crops. Several related aspects are
covered in this paper, such as economics, botanical description, the extraction and compositions,
physical and chemical properties of crude A. aculeata oil and fatty acid composition of A. aculeata.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Acrocomia aculeate
Macaba
Non-edible feedstock
Biofuel
Bioenergy
Brazil

Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2. Botanical description of Acrocomia aculeata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3. Acrocomia aculeata and its potential in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4. Extraction and composition of Acrocomia aculeata oil . . . . . . .
5. Correlations between main properties and chemical process .
6. Final remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1. Introduction

Corresponding author. Tel: 55 031 24 2107 3553; fax: 55 031 24 3344 3019.
E-mail addresses: aldaracesar@id.uff.br (A.S. Csar), mohamed@erciyes.edu.tr,
aeatabani@gmail.com (A.E. Atabani).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.125
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biofuel production has stood out at the international level on

account of its more environmentally sustainable characteristics and
the potential to promote rural development in developing countries
[1,2]. The possible depletion of the world's fossil fuel reserves,

1214

A.S. Csar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 49 (2015) 12131220

uctuation of oil prices and its correlation with greenhouse effect

have corroborate the search for more renewable alternatives [24].
Biofuels are promising alternatives because they allow partial
or total replacement of conventional fossil fuels [1,2]. Blends of
diesel and biodiesel can be used in conventional diesel engines
without requiring any special modications [5]. Consumers can
keep supplying their cars on the same way what make easier
consume this new blend [6].
However, the increased demand for biofuels made from vegetable edible oils has generated conicting discussions regarding the
use of agricultural land for fuel purposes [711]. For instance, over
the last decade the global demand for vegetable oil has increased at
an annual rate of 5% [12]. This increase is partly justied by the
population growth and the demand for raw material for biodiesel
sector and other industries [13]. In Brazil, the National Program of
Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB) and the relevant legislation
have created strong demand for biodiesel. Currently, the addition of
biodiesel into diesel is 7% (B7) [14] what makes Brazil an important
global producer and consumer. Besides the production of biodiesel,
the federal program also aims to reach to goals: stimulate the social
inclusion of its producers (specially small farmers) and the production from other crops [2,3].
Among the advantage of diversication as decentralization of
production which enables the integration of different categories
of economic agents farmers in their production chain, soybean has
been prevalent in virtually every state. In 2014, 88.6% of biodiesel
was produced from soybeans (66.9%) and beef fat (21.6%) [14].
In Brazil, there is a possibility of biodiesel is produced from animal
fats and oils (recycled and new), from other crops (castor (Ricinus
communis), palm (Elaeis spp.), sunower (Heliantus annus), babassu
(Orbignya phalerata), macaba (Acrocomia spp.), peanuts (Arachis
hypogea), jatropha (Jatropha curcas), pequi (Brasilia caryocar), inaj
(Maximiliana spp.), soybean (Glycine max), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), etc.) and even from the cane (Saccharum ofcinarum) [3].
Even there are federal incentives to growth alternative sources
for biodiesel, diversication also presents challenges, because it
demands a lot of research to nd which source would be the most
efcient in this chain.
When compared to other potential biodiesel feedstocks, the
production chain of Acrocomia aculeate is still incipient. In 2013, in
Southeast Brazilian, for example, this feedstock contributed to
biodiesel sector just only 0.01% [14]. However, though it only
appeared in the biodiesel production statistics in 2013 and still
tentatively, A. aculeate has been identied as a crop that could be
stimulated to meet the biodiesel industry in the country. The
A. aculeata crop draws attention because its productivity rates are
similar to oil palm, 46 ton oil/ha. Moreover, this crop is not used as a
food source and therefore its oil can be used for biodiesel production

Fig. 1. (a) Acrocomia aculeata tree; (b) thorns on the trunk; and (c) fruit clusters.
Source: Elaborated by the Authors

as the primary product. Currently, the economic exploration of A.

aculeata was restricted to extraction; reason there is few technical
information about this culture. In fact, there are no published papers
that review the potential of A. aculeata oil as a prospective source for
biodiesel production. Therefore, the present paper aims to examine
the opportunity of biodiesel production from A. aculeata as a
potential source for future energy supply, particularly for Brazil.
Several related aspects were covered in this paper, such as economics, botanical description, oil extraction and compositions, physical
and chemical properties of crude A. aculeata oil and the fatty acid
composition. The question on whether A. aculeata is suitable as a fuel
and whether it has a chance on the national and international
biodiesel markets should be answered.

2. Botanical description of Acrocomia aculeata

Of the Palmae family, the species A. aculeata is a rustic, arborescent, perennial, fructiferous palm, native to tropical forests with
rainfall between 1500 and 2000 mm [15], temperatures between 15
and 35 1C, altitudes from 150 to 1000 m [16]. The species A. aculeata
is a disease-resistant palm tree, not attacked by pests and diseases,
and withstands large climate variations, reaching heights of more
than 15 m. Plant growth is slow until the third year because it
develops its structure into the soil, however, after the third year the
plant grows faster [17]. The production of A. aculeata extends from
September to January across Latin America, except for the Midwest
region of Brazil which occurs from March to June [18]. The highest
production peak occurs from January to March, with decreasing
production cycle every three years [19], but remains productive for
over a hundred years.
The morphological characteristics of the palm A. aculeata are: it
can reach 1520 m in height (Fig. 1a), 2030 cm trunk diameter
covered by dark thorns 10 cm in length (Fig. 1b). The tree has short
and long, pinnate and full leaves are 45 m in length [18,20], and
the fruits are spherical, 2.55.0 cm in diameter [16]. A single plant
has 28 clusters (Fig. 1c), with a number of fruits per panicle
ranging from 250 to 500, and yields between 25,000 and
40,000 kg of fruits/ha/year [16,19].
The germination time of the seeds is of about 2 years which
represents a bottleneck for the cultivation of the species [21].
However, new techniques have been suggested to reduce the
germination time, such as the use of scarication methods [22],
and pre-germinated seeds [16]. The time it takes for an
A. aculeata palm to begin its production yield is of around 46
years [16], and the crop can be commercialized at the third year
for agricultural activity [23]. Additionally, A. aculeata is regarded as
a strategy for recovery, preservation and restoration of permanent

A.S. Csar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 49 (2015) 12131220

preservation areas and legal reserve areas to add value to the soil,
providing that sustainable extraction practices are used. This
integration can occur by rotation, consortium or succession in
silvopastoral and agrosilvopastoral systems [24]. Thus this system
improves the soil's physical, chemical and biological quality to
reduce pests, diseases and weeds, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions; and increase economic and environmental sustainability to animals [2527].
The fruits complete their production cycle between 12 and 14
months [17], and oil accumulation occurs at the end of the cycle
[28]. Moreover, [29] observed a 20% oil content increase in fruits
stored for a period of 7 days like occur in climacteric fruit.
The harvesting of A. aculeata fruits is performed manually by
collecting the fruits that fall to the ground when ripe due to factors
such as the occurrence of winds. The fruit collection time should
be relatively short to avoid fungal and insect attacks and to
prevent the fruit from absorbing moisture, which causes higher
acidity of the pulp oil, risking the yields in the rening stages [20].
The presence of moisture in oils can negatively inuence the
transesterication process (method used for biodiesel production),
disabling the basic catalysts, releasing water molecules, hence
decreasing the yield [30]. Another important aspect of moisture,
when considering the fruit in its three stages: (1) green; (2) intermediate and (3) ripe, is that there are large differences in the
percentage of moisture in the fresh samples [30]. In the green
stage there is a higher percentage of moisture than in the
intermediate and mature stages. In the green stage is also lower
amount of oil in the mesocarp when compared to the intermediate
and mature stages [30].
The uneven ripening of these fruits is one characteristic of this
species [30]. This unevenness may affect the oil yields because it
varies according to the fruit degree of ripeness [31]. In order to
fully utilize the fruits they should be completely ripe and only
harvested after they are detached from the cluster. The early
harvesting of fruits or even cutting off the cluster will make it
impossible to utilize the fruit due to its uneven ripening [32]
Furthermore, this unevenness may compromise the transesterication process since it alters the presence of moisture regarding
the fruits degree of ripening.
According to Tilahun [29], as soon as the fruits begin to fall
from the clusters, the entire cluster can be removed, because there
would be more evenness of the ripe fruits [33]. This practice would
maximize the harvest and transport of the natural fruits.
The lack of domestication of the species and the good collection
method generate low productivity, since it occurs in heterogeneous plant populations, with varying ages, densities and qualities,
complicating the application of management and control techniques [15].

Fig. 2. Regions with higher plantation of Acrocomia aculeata in Latin America.

Source:[34].

Table 1
Productivity of oil based on some potential biodiesel feedstocks.
Species

Origin of % Oil
oil

Months of
harvest

Oil yield
(t/ha.)

Palm (Elaeis guineensis N.)

Babassu (Attalea speciosa M.)
Sunower (Helianthus annus)
Rape (Brassica campestris)
Castor bean (Ricinus
communis)
Peanuts (Arachis hipogaea)
Soybean (Glycine max)

Almond
Almond
Grain
Grain
Grain

26
66
3848
4048
4345

12
12
3
3
3

3.06.0
0.40.8
0.51.5
0.50.9
0.51.0

Grain
Grain

4050
17

3
3

0.60.8
0.20.6

Fonte: [37].

Some of the many advantages for using A. aculeata are:

 Regarding the social aspect, the crop uses hand labor, especially

3. Acrocomia aculeata and its potential in Brazil

The species A. aculeata occurs in areas with high solar irradiation, it adapts to sandy and clayey soils with low water content.
However, it develops better in fertile soils [22]. The palm species
spread from Mexico to Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Antilles,
except for Ecuador and Peru (Fig. 2). In Brazil, A. aculeate is found
mainly in the North and South-Center of Minas Gerais, West of So
Paulo, Gois, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.
The species A. aculeata is known in Brazil as macaba,
bocaiva, coco de espinho, mocaj, coco de catarro; mocay,
coquito, in Argentina as corozo, in Colombia and Venezuela as
corosse, in France and Haiti as palma de vino, gru gru, macaba,
in Spain as coyol, in Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras as tota
(in Bolivia); in Paraguay as mbokaja, and in Germany as macaba
[34].

1215

in plantation and harvesting stages. Workers earned on average

more than twice the minimum wage and more than in
potential alternative jobs during the offseason [35]. In the
case presented by the authors in, 100% of the workers interviewed said they want to work in A. aculeata harvest in the next
season. The fruits fall to the ground when ripe and are then
manually collected. The collection time should be relatively
short to avoid insect and fungi attacks as well as moisture
absorption, which cause higher acidity to the pulp oil, jeopardizing the yields of the rening stages. Thus, this crop production requires high employability [16]. Given the similarity to
the production of palm oil, an analogy can be made of this crop
through the work of [2], which refers to the generation of direct
employment for every ten hectares cultivated with oil palm in
northern Brazil. Thus, this crop displays great potential to
generate employment since its production is perennial for over
100 years [19].
The crop has the potential to provide high oil yields when
compared to other oilseeds. Its productivity can reach 6 Mg
oil ha  1 and it is very similar to palm (Elaeis guineensis) [23,36].
Table 1 presents the productivity of palm and other crops.
A. aculeata stands out among other oilseeds available for
biodiesel production because it adapts to marginal soils and
promotes the recovery of degraded areas [16].

1216

A.S. Csar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 49 (2015) 12131220

 With regards to sustainability, this crop enables intercropping



and agroforestry systems [38].

Interestingly, throughout its production cycle, A. aculeata
allows high CO2 absorption from the atmosphere. According
to Silva [32], there is a reduction of approximately 10 Mg ha  1
of CO2 for each hectare planted with A. aculeata. This value is
higher than that of soybean (which absorbs 3.52 Mg ha  1) and
lower than oil palm (29.3 Mg ha  1) [39].
The cultivation of A. aculeata is a protable activity for farmers
[23,36]. The authors present the economic viability of the only
Brazilian A. aculeata commercial crops (promoting by Entaban
in Minas Gerais State). By adopting a model similar to Agrianual
2008 [40] (that annually publishes the mainly information for
the major crops, the authors present a detailed cost spreadsheet for the production of 1 t coconut shell was estimated in R
$ 97.94 [23] and R$ 116.81 [36], i.e., respectively US$ 51.55 and
US$ 58.41 [41]. However, the authors considered 30 years of
cultivation. In the case of palm oil tree, according to Brazil [42],
the economically viable end of exploration occurs between 25
and 30 years, because the rising cost of crop due to plant height
and yield reduction. Even though considering the period of 20
years as Agrianual does for oil palm, the cost of A. aculeata
commercial crops was around R$ 100.00/ton in 2009 (i.e., 52.63
[41]) and R$ 130.57 in 2011 (i.e., US$ 78.19 [41]). This value can
be considered very competitive comparing to other cultures,
like Jatropha curcas (R$ 250.00/ton), Castor bean (R$ 805.00/
ton) and soybean (R$ 420.49) [40]. Currently, the cost of palm
plantation in Brazil in 2014 was R$ 277.85 [43], i.e., around US$
115.77 [41]. In this sense A. aculeata still a very good option
supply biodiesel chain. As palm projects, the initial investment
for Acrocomia aculeata is considered high. Notwithstanding, the
biodiesel projects have attractive economic indexes. Lopes et al.

Million metric tons

600.00
500.00
Production

400.00

Consumption

300.00

Ending stocks
Exports

200.00

Imports

100.00
0.00
2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13 1/ 2013/14 2/

Graph 1. World vegetable oils supply and distribution, 2009/102013/14.

Source: [45]

[44] presented potentially protable especially for biodiesel

plants with integrated oil mill and alkaline transesterication.
For competitive biodiesel, the authors emphasize that
A. aculeata plantations in many places in the world are still
in their primary stage and specially in Brazil researches has
been putting efforts to develop new technologies for improving
the A. aculeata oil processing.
Regarding to the oil market, currently the world consume is
almost the same the word production. According to United
States Department of Agriculture [45], the consumer of oilseeds
grew up 20.9% in the last ve years (Graph 1) which indicates
good market opportunities for A. aculeata oil and other oilseeds
as well.

Although many authors show the A. aculeata as a culture that

has great potential of developing in Brazil, the literature [46]
presents some bottlenecks related to the A. aculeata investment in
Brazil as well as some proposals to overcome them (Table 2).
4. Extraction and composition of Acrocomia aculeata oil
The fruits that have completed their cycle begin to detach from
the clusters and fall to the ground. The fruits have to then be
manually collected from the ground and stored for a period of 15
20 days. According to Melo [20] this storage maximizes the
amount of oil in the fruit.
After this period, the fruits are sterilized and are then peeled,
pulped and broken (Fig. 3).
The epicarp of the A. aculeata fruit has a thin, hard, brittle and
brous structure and has a light brown color when mature [47]. It
can be intended for gasication as a heat source for the fruit
dehydration process or be crushed and used as livestock feed [48].
For the mesocarp, which has a yellowish color, two products are
generated: the cake employed as feed [49] and second-generation
bioethanol [50]. The oleic acid-rich oil can be destined to biodiesel
production, to the chemical and cosmetic industries. The endocarp, with high caloric value, is intended for combustion. The
kernel is pressed to produce the cake used as feed and bioethanol,
its oil is rich in lauric acid intended for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and biodiesel industries. These co-products cater to various
sectors of agribusiness and the industry.
The oil from the kernel and from the mesocarp represents the
two most commercially important products that can be extracted
from A. aculeata. The oil from the kernel is rich in proteins and has
an off-white color, while the oil from the mesocarp has a yellowish
color [31,51,52].

Table 2
Some barriers and challenges to promote Acrocomia aculeata in Brazil.
Source: [45].
Current situation

Proposals/challenges

The lack of proper zoning prevents determining the best planting and harvesting
times, and also complicates determining the varieties to be planted in each
region, which in turn limits the investments directed to Acrocomia aculeata and
also prevents the producers access to nancing.
The production of coconut in natural plantations does not meet the demands of the
bio reneries, which contributes to production redundancy.
The low quality of the fruits from manual harvesting and ripening differences,
resulting in irregular harvesting periods.

Develop agricultural zoning to encourage the production expansion in traditional

areas due to its incidence. Hence, this zoning would result in elaborating specic
credit lines for macaba.

The seedling production in nurseries is in pilot scale only, through public-private

partnerships.
High investments to implement bio reneries and land properties for plantation.
Moreover, the return on investment is slow. Six years are estimated from seed to
the rst year of Acrocomia aculeata production, which limits investments in this
cultivation.

Stimulate the genetic improvement of the crop to meet the commercial planting.
Research aimed at systematizing the agricultural production should be stimulated
to reduce this bottleneck. Proper mechanisms should be studied to increase the
production efciency and acquisition of Acrocomia aculeata.
Encourage partnerships between research entities and companies to increase
seedling production in order to meet the demand.
Offer better nancing conditions.

A.S. Csar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 49 (2015) 12131220

1217

Energy

Gasification

Cake

Animal feed

Epicarp
Shells
Bioethanol
Cake
Animal feed

Mesocarp
Biodiesel
Chemical
Industry

Pulping
Oil

Cosmetics
Industry

Endocarp

Energy

Coal

Breaking

Biodiesel
Bioethanol
Cake

kernel

Oil

Pharmaceutica
Industry

Animal feed
Cosmetics
Industry
Fig. 3. Flowchart of the processing of fruits from Acrocomia aculeata.
Source: Elaborated by the Authors from [20].

Table 3
Fatty acid composition (%).
Source: [30].
Fatty acids

Caprylic acid
Capric acid
Lauric acid
Myristic acid
Palmitic Acid
Palmitoleic acid
Stearic Acid
Oleic Acid
Linoleic acid
Linolenic acid
Saturated acids
Unsaturated acids

Table 4
Caloric value of oil species compared with the Epicarp, Mesocarp and Endocarp of
Acrocomia aculeate.
Source: [30,55,56].
Acrocomia aculeata (Fruits)
Mesocarp

Kernel

18. 7
4. 0
2. 8
53. 4
17. 7
1. 5
21. 5
78. 5

6.2
5.3
43.6
8.5
5.3

2.4
25.5
3.3

71.2
28.8

The kernel-derived oil is considered higher quality oil and has a

higher value than the oil from the pulp, which is destined to the
pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. The mesocarp-derived oil
is primarily destined to the cosmetics industry and has been
studied to supply the biodiesel production chain in Brazil [51].
Table 3 shows the fatty acid composition of mesocarp and
kernel oils. The main difference between the oil extracted from
mesocarp and kernel of A. aculeata is the higher unsaturation level
(78.5%) of the mesocarp oil unlike the higher saturation level
(71.2%) of the kernel oil.
The differences in the composition of fatty acids are related the
harvest time of the fruits of A. aculeata, because longer weather
exposure resulted in a higher degradation of the mesocarp of
A. aculeata [53].

Species

Caloric value (kCal kg  10)

Acrocomia aculeata epicarp

Acrocomia aculeata mesocarp
Acrocomia aculeata endocarp
Sunower (cake)
Soybean (cake)
Oil palm (cake)
Coconut shell
Castor oil (cake)

4378
3785
4379
1700
2200
4300
3500
4500

The endocarp of A. aculeata is commonly called the coal of A.

aculeata. It has high caloric value (Table 4), and can be used in
syngas devices, in steel and metallurgical operations and for
domestic use [54].
Table 5 shows the physical and chemical properties of the oils
from the fruit tissues of A. aculeata.
According to Amaral [30], these values may be inconsistent due
to the different methods used, from the harvesting of the fruit to
the oil extraction.
Table 5 shows different acid values for the epicarp, mesocarp
and kernel. These values are relatively high when compared with
others oils from Arecaceaes, for example Mauritia exuosa (Buriti)
and Elaeis guineensis (Dend). The acidity can be explained by the
presence of fatty acid in fruit tissues of A. aculeata.
High acid value jeopardizes the production of biodiesel. It
allows chemical reactions that provide parallel reactions that
consequently it will reduce the efciency [34,57,58]. The degree
of free acidity decreases as the fruit ripens. Also, the acid value

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A.S. Csar et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 49 (2015) 12131220

Table 5
Physical and chemical properties of the oils of fruit tissues of Acrocomia aculeate.
Source: Adapted by Silva [32].
Characteristics

Specic weight at 25/25 1C

Refractive index at 40 1C
Melting point in 1C
Solidication point in 1C
Viscosity (Engler) at 40 1C
Saponication index
Ester Index
Acid value in mg of KOH/1 g

Acrocomia aculeata (fruits)

Epicarp

Mesocarp

kernel

0.9104
1.4584
48.00
22.6
7.832
196.539
91.029
105.510

0.9189
1.4593
50.05
19.9
6.594
203.274
139.994
63.280

0.9205
1.4518
37.58
19.0
4.20
241.173
235.563
5.61

decreased from the epicarp oil to the kernel oil. The acidity level is
also related to the purity level, to the oil age, degree of hydrolysis,
oxidation intensity etc. [59].
The saponication value is consistent with those found in
edible and rened oils. The higher the saponication index of
vegetable oils, the higher the possibilities to use it for pharmaceutical industries. Therefore, the oil from the kernels has higher
quality than the oils from the epicarp and from the mesocarp [49].
The iodine value denes the degree of unsaturation of oils. The
amount of oleic acid is higher in the mesocarp than in the kernel,
thus the iodine value in the mesocarp is higher than that in
kernels (Table 5) [34,60,61].
The viscosity determines the uidity of the oils a characteristic inversely proportional to the degree of saturation of free fatty
acids. The higher the saturation implies in the lower ow [61]. The
high viscosity of crude oils can cause serious engine damage [62].
The oil extracted from the kernels has the lowest viscosity among
those extracted from portions of the A. aculeata plant (Table 5).
Kernel oil viscosity is even lower than of other oils, such as oils
extracted from Jatropha, corn, sunower, canola [59]. High acidity
levels hinder the processing and therefore the quality of the oil,
changes that are reected in the sensory analysis, which are
important qualities for the food and pharmaceutical industry
[34,63]. Furthermore the acidity is reduced during the rening
process, however high amounts of free fatty acids results in high
losses during the rening process [34,64].

5. Correlations between main properties and chemical process

The fatty acid methyl or ethyl esters (biodiesel) can be produced by transesterication of A. aculeata crude oils. However
some aspects must be pointed before beginning the industrial
production.
It is known that there are strong relationships between physical
and chemical properties of vegetable oils and the quality of the
biodiesel produced from these feedstocks. Among the properties
of the oils, the most critical one is the acid value. According to the
European Committee for Standardization [65] and American
Society for Testing and Materials [66] acid value is the amount
in milligrams (mg) of potassium hydroxide (KOH) required to
neutralize 1 g of sample oil.
The acid value is directly linked to the presence of free fatty
acids in the oil sample. High concentrations of free fatty acids lead
to soap formation during alkaline hydrolysis called saponication
reaction. The soap formation increases the emulsication of the
products; it increases the solubility of the esters formed in glycerol
and thus inhibits their separation. Furthermore, there is a consumption of the catalyst, which requires its replacement increasing the cost of the process.

To avoid the saponication reaction alkoxides may be used

instead metal hydroxide, for example CH3OMe CH3CH2OMe can
be used to produce methyl ester or ethyl ester or, where MeNa or
K, although this requires anhydrous oil since the hydrolysis reaction
take place into to the equilibrium with the presence of water.
From the chemical point of view the reagent CH3OMe show
advantages because it reduces the steps in the separation of nal
products, ethanol forms an azeotrope with water so it is expensive
to purify the products. But the methane is several times more toxic
than ethanol, then one has to evaluate this restriction before
chosen the methyl esters or esters ethyl [67].
As shown in Table 5 the acid number found for the epicarp,
mesocarp and almond (105, 63.28 and 5.61 mg of KOH/g, respectively) are well above the recommended values by previous
studies (maximum value of 1.0 mg KOH/g) value. Therefore, a
prior treatment of the crude oil should be done to produce
biodiesel from fruit tissues of A. aculeata. This treatment consists
of acid esterication of free fatty acids. This procedure leads to the
formation of esters of fatty acids. On the other hand, from
chemical approaches this reaction shows slow kinetics.
Even though the iodine values obtained from A. aculeata have
shown numbers below 120 mg I2/100 g that corroborate to the
suitable properties of the biodiesel, the ASTM biodiesel standard
does not cover the iodine value. However the Rancimat test [68]
allows parameter related to the oxidative stability.
The oxidative stability is changed by the presence of carbon
carbon double bond also called unsaturation, so higher unsaturation
imply in poor stability than impact the performance of biodiesel. The
Rancimat method is an accelerated aging test, which gives the
oxidation stability index in a few hours. This method is essential
to control the quality of feedstock to biodiesel production.

6. Final remarks
Biodiesel production from A. aculeata has good prospects not
only due to its high oil yield per hectare, but also because of its
physicochemical properties. The low viscosity of the oil, especially
from the kernel, could be an interesting aspect for lubricant
purpose. Brazil has a lot of potential to promote A. aculeata
commercial crop even it has been exploring by extration.
However, given to the high commercial value of A. aculeata, the
oil produced from the kernel could be directed to the pharmaceutical
and cosmetics industry; not justifying its use for fuel purposes at this
moment. Currently, the nancial returns in these sectors would be
higher than the production of biofuel, even this paper shows the oil
extracted from the mesocarp could be used as fuel.
The high presence of lauric acid facilitates esterication reactions
resulting in a high quality biodiesel obtained from A. aculeata.
Although it is worth to emphasize that this process would demand
a pre-treatment that would need more research about its viability.
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