Pasqualino, J: Cynara cardunculus as an alternative crop for

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel obtained from vegetable oils, with similar properties to fossil diesel fuel. This work is focused on the use of Cynara cardunculus oil as an alternative raw material for the production of biodiesel. Cynara cardunculus is a wild cardoon from the family of artichoke that is well adapted to the Mediterranean weather, being an alternative for abandoned cropland. The first part of this work is the optimisation of the reaction conditions for the transesterification of unrefined Cynara cardunculus oil, including the pre-treatment steps. The second part of the work was the characterisation of the mixtures of biodiesel and diesel fuel, according to European specific Normatives (EN 14214 for biodiesel and EN 590 for fossil diesel fuel). The third part of the work was the analysis of the biodegradability of mixtures of biodiesel and fossil derived fuels. The presence of cometabolism was analysed in order to demonstrate if biodiesel enhances the degradation of fossil derived fuels.