The Moringaceae is a single-genus family of oilseed trees with 14 known species. Of these, the fast growing, drought-tolerant Moringa oleifera, which ranges in height from 5 to 10 m, is the most widely known and utilised (Morton, 1991). M. oleifera thrives best in a tropical insular climate and is plentiful near the sandy beds of rivers and streams. M. oleifera can tolerate wide rainfall range (25-300 cm per year) and soil pH from 5.0 to 9.0 (Rashid et al, 2008). M. oleifera seeds contain between 33% and 41% w/w of vegetable oil (Somali et al., 1984; Anwar and Bhanger, 2003; Anwar et al, 2005) and are rich in oleic acid (> 70%). M.

oleifera is commercially known as ‘ben oil’ or ‘behen oil’, due to its content of behenic (docosanoic) acid, and possesses significant resistance to oxidative degradation (Lalas and Tsaknis, 2002).

M. oleifera has many medicinal uses and significant nutritional value (Anwar, 2007). A survey conducted on 75 indigenous (Indian) plant-derived non-traditional oils concluded that M. oleifera oil has a good potential for biodiesel production (Azam et al., 2005). Acid pretreatment is needed to reduce the acid value, but the resulting biodiesel exhibits one of the highest cetane number (around 67) found for biodiesel (Rashid et al., 2008).