Analysis of Fatty Acid Composition and Methyl-ester Properties of Camellia and Tea Oil

To secure raw materials of biodiesel production, the possibility of camellia (C. japonica L.) and tea (C. sinensis L.) seed oil was studied to produce biodiesel. In this research, crude oil contents and fatty acid compositions of seeds were analyzed by Solxlet and Gas chromatography (GC). The oil contents in the seeds of camellia were 69.8%~73.8%, and tea were 26.3%~29.4%. Among the fatty acids of camellia and tea oil, oleic acid was dominant. The unsaturated fatty acids accounted for 88.4% and 80.2% of the whole fatty acids of camellia and tea seed oil. Total seed oil content and fatty acid composition of tea seed were influenced by collecting date. Across maturation period, oil content of tea seed averaged 18.3% on $6^{th}$ September increasing to 27.9% by $11^{th}$ October. For largest seed yield and oil content, the optimum time to harvest tea is in middle october, and camellia is late september and thereafter. The extraction efficiency of oil from seeds by extraction methods was determined. Biodiesel were synthesized in 92.1~92.8% yields from camellia and tea oils by transesterification. The biodiesel was characterized by its physical and fuel properties including oxidation stability, iodine value and cold filter plugging point (CFPP). Oxidation stability of camellia was 8.6~8.8 hours and tea was 2.9~3.6 at $110^{\circ}C$ . Camellia oil had considerably better oxidation stability and CFPP than tea oil.