Another nonedible biomass originated in India is Pongamia pinnata (Karanja), which is a medium-sized de­ciduous plant that grows fast in damp and subtropical environments and matures in 5—7 years to tender fruit that contains two kidney-shaped kernels (Mohibbeazam et al., 2005). The oil content of Karanja kernels ranges be­tween 25 wt% and 40 wt% (Karmee et al., 2005; Mohibbeazam et al., 2005). The primary fatty acid found in Karanja oil is oleic acid (45—70 wt%), followed by palmitic, linoleic, and stearic acids (Karmee et al., 2005; Naik et al., 2008). The low-temperature operability of the parallel methyl esters from karanja is superior to that of jatropha oil methyl esters as a result of the fairly high percentage of oleic acid in karanja oil, as evidenced by cloud point (CP) and PP values of —2 °C and —6 °C, respectively (Srivastava and Verma, 2008).

MADHUCA INDICA (MAHUA)

Madhuca indica, commonly known as "Mahua", is a tropical plant found frequently in the central and north­ern plains and forests of India. It belongs to the family Sapotaceae and grows rapidly up to 20 m in height, pos­sesses evergreen or semievergreen foliage, and is well adapted to dry environments (Ghadge and Raheman, 2006; Kumari et al., 2007). The fruit is nonedible, obtained from the tree in 4—7 years and contains one to two kidney-shaped kernels (Mohibbeazam et al., 2005). The oil content of dried Mahua seeds is about 50 wt%. Mahua oil is characterized by free fatty acid (FFA) con­tent of around 20 wt% and a comparatively high percent­age of saturated fatty acids such as stearic (14.0 wt%) and palmitic (17.8 wt%) acids (Ghadge and Raheman,

2006) . The remaining fatty acids are mostly spread among unsaturated components such as linoleic (17.9 wt%) and oleic (46.3 wt%) acids (Singh and Singh, 1991). The relatively high percentage of saturated fatty acids (35.8 wt%) found in Mahua oil results in relatively poor low-temperature properties of the parallel methyl esters, as evidenced by PP value of 6 °C (Ghadge and Raheman, 2006).