Abstract
Biodiesel is produced from edible/non-edible plants oil. However, alkaline transesterification of these oils makes the process challenging due to the presence of large amount of free fatty acids (FFA), which forms soap on reaction with alkali. Hence, it is necessary to reduce FFA present so that alkaline catalyzed transesterification can be carried out. In this work, biodiesel fuel was produced using diphenylamine functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica SBA-15 as catalyst for the esterification of free fatty acid (FFA) present in neem oil (NO) and its effect on esterification reaction was studied. Optimum catalyzed esterification was achieved using 1 g diphenylamine functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica SBA-15 as a solid base catalyst with a methanol to oil ratio of 9:1, at 60°C and reaction time of 1.25 h. During this process, FFA was converted into fatty acid methyl esters. The acid value of NO oil was reduced to 7.34 mg KOH/g from 52.45 mg KOH/g, accounting for 86% conversion efficiency. Consequently, this pretreatment reduces the overall complexity of the process and reduces the cost of producing biodiesel fuel. Pretreated NO was converted to biodiesel by a process of alkaline catalyzed transesterification using 1% KOH in methanol. Key words: Biodiesel, esterification, transesterification, free fatty acid, neem oil.
Highlights
Increasing demand for energy due to boosting population across the globe has created huge burden on the economy of many nations considering environmental challenges posed by emission of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels
Bio-diesel is a fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats
Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was supplied by Aldrich india, while non-edible grade neem oil was obtained from local market, Chennai Tamil Nadu, India
Summary
Increasing demand for energy due to boosting population across the globe has created huge burden on the economy of many nations considering environmental challenges posed by emission of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels. The need for an alternative fuel that is renewable and ecofriendly becomes imperative. Bio-diesel is a fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats. It is a domestic, clean-burning and renewable liquid fuel. As a result of molecular similarities, bio-diesel can be used instead of petroleum-based diesel with little or no engine modifications (Panigrahi et al, 2012). Price hike and uncertainties concerning petroleum availability contributed immensely to the interest of vegetable oil fuels for diesel engines (Mishra et al, 1995)
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