Effect of moisture content, particle size and solvent type parameters on oil extraction from Mazafati date pit and its biodiesel production using ultrasound

The Iran's share of global production of date palm was 1,157,000 tons. It could be estimated that 11000 tons of date pit oil can be extracted annually. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of particle size, moisture content and the type of solvent parameters on oil extraction from Mazafati date pit and biodiesel production from that. The effect of particle size in two levels, the solvent type and moisture content parameters on three levels were investigated on oil extraction from Mazafati date pit. The extracted date pit oil converted to biodiesel by transesterification reaction. Ultrasound waves used in order to produce biodiesel. The ultrasound parameters were vibration pulse on three levels, ultrasound duration on two levels and fixed vibration amplitude at 60%. Some of the properties of produced biodiesel from date pit oil were determined. The results showed that the effects of moisture content, particle size, type of solvent and interaction effect of moisture content by solvent type were significant (P