FTIR and GCMS analysis on useful methyl ester compound from industrial waste animal fleshing oil (WAFO)

Abstract

Solid wastes generated in leather industry can be turned in to value-added products by recovering leather fleshing fats which is recommended as one of the waste disposal method. Fat from leather fleshing is an excellent source of energy since it is composed of glycerides, fatty acids and glycerol. Fleshing processes are performed by removing the flesh consist of considerable amounts of natural fat and protein. The present work is carried out by extracting oil from leather fleshing using a reactor at the operating condition of 120 °C at 1.5 bar. In order to remove phospholipids from the oil, orthophosphoric acid was used and agitated for 5 min at 600 rpm. During the degumming process, the temperature was maintained at 80 °C to avoid the solidification of fat oil. The filtered oil was converted in to biodiesel through esterification and transesterification processes as it has very high Free Fatty Acid (FFA). To reduce the FFA content of crude fat oil, the acid esterification process was performed. The acid esterification process was carried out using H2SO4 concentration of 5%, methanol to oil molar ratios of 6:1 at the temperature of 60 °C at the stirring speed of 300 rpm for 60 min. The biodiesel production started by transesterification reaction with methanol to oil molar ratio of 6:1, catalyst concentration as 1.2% of oil weight, stirring speed of 350 rpm, temperature 60 °C for 120 min. The biodiesel produced from leather fleshing oil were characterized by using gas chromatography (GC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).