Biodiesel Production From Waste Cooking Oil using Homogeneous Catalyst

Abstract

Due to the upsurge of awareness of the depletion of fossil fuel feedstock and environmental issues, biodiesel has become a more attractive choice. Biodiesel's productivity is deemed a fruitful and significant research field since its relevance obtains from the increased oil prices and environmental benefits. This paper presents a study of Alfa waste cooking oil used to produce biodiesel oil via the transesterification process. The investigation includes various variables such as transesterification time, catalyst ratio, temperature, and biodiesel yield. Two catalysts (NaOH and KOH) have been utilized in this study. The engine test was carried out at constant load with increasing speed to compare different fuels' performance relative to mineral diesel. The produced biodiesel was categorized according to ASTM D6751. The highest conversion and yield of biodiesel in the transesterification method were scrutinized using the KOH catalyst compared to the NaOH catalyst. The maximum conversion and yield of biodiesel are 97.76 and 94.4%, respectively, with optimum operating conditions of 60 oC reaction temperature, 3 hours reaction time, and KOH catalyst at 4% weight. Consequently, the engine test outcomes revealed similar biodiesels trends compared to diesel in terms of engine brake power and brake specific fuel consumption with increasing engine speed.