Development of Transesterification System with Acid and Base Homogeneous Catalysts For Mangifera Indica Seed Oil to Mangifera Indica Methyl Ester (MOME Biodiesel)

Abstract

The depletion of resources, increased cost of fossil fuel and increased environmental awareness reaching the critical condition. Development of viable alternative fuels from renewable resources is gaining the international attention and acceptance. The vegetable oils have the potential of alternative fuel for compression ignition engines by converting it into biodiesel. The mangifera indica oil is a nonedible vegetable oil, available in large quantities in mangifera indica cultivating countries including India. Very little research has been done on utilization of oil in general and optimization of transesterification process for biodiesel production. However, direct base catalyzed transesterification produced no biodiesel due to the high Free Fatty Acid ( FFA) value of the oil. Hence, acid pretreatment was preferred prior to base transesterification which afforded a significant reduction of the FFA value from 3.3% to 0.9% . Various input parameters like oil-to-methanol molar ratio (1:08, 1:12 and 1:16), catalyst type (NaOH, KOH and NaOCH3), catalyst concentration (0.5, 1 and 1.5 wt %) and reaction temperature (59, 64 and 69°C) were studied. The optimum conditions for transesterification process are: 1:12 oil-to-methanol molar ratio, 1.0 wt.% catalyst concentration, KOH catalyst, & 64°C reaction temperature. The optimum yield of MOME was 89.8%. The biodiesel produced (MOME) is within the limits prescribed by EN-14214 standard.