Abstract
This paper proposes the Taguchi based optimization technique for the production of biodiesel from palm oil. For this purpose, L9 orthogonal array was successfully used for better yield estimation by using Minitab-18 software. Different process variables like molar ratio, catalyst concentration, reaction time and reaction temperature were studied. A predicted yield of 92.06 % was achieved by regression analysis by maintaining the process variables of molar ratio 5:1 (methanol to oil), 4 grams of catalyst concentration (NaOH), 180 minutes of reaction time and 44°C of reaction temperature. Experimentations were conducted on the same process variables and achieved a yield of 91.65 %. By this it is clear that both experimentation and regression analysis by Taguchi are in good agreement with an error of 0.41 % which may be acclaimed as experimental error. The fatty acid compositions (FAC) were also analyzed and it is found that 37.12 % saturated and 62.88 % unsaturated fatty acids present in the palm methyl ester (PME). By using the FAC of PME the Cetane number was predicted as 55.38. The predicted Cetane number from FAC tally with experimental Cetane number. The PME is characterized for different fuel properties by following the international standards. And it is concluded that catalyst concentration and reaction temperature are the important parameters which influence PME yield, Taguchi based optimization technique will helps in predicting the maximum yield with minimum number of experiments.
Highlights
The concept of using vegetable oils as a fuel in diesel engines is not a new invention
It difficult to convert the raw oil into methyl ester if the presence of free fatty acids (FFA) more than 2.5 %
2) The process variables were optimized by using statistical techniques of L9 orthogonal array and analysis of variance (ANOVA)
Summary
The concept of using vegetable oils as a fuel in diesel engines is not a new invention. The inventor of diesel engine Rudolf Diesel (1890) used different variety of fuels which includes vegetable oil . The high viscosity of the vegetable oils can be reduced by splitting of fatty acids from glycerin was initiated in early 1930s. Chavanne was granted a Belgian patent for an ethyl ester of palm oil (Biodiesel). In 1938, a passenger bus fueled with palm oil ethyl ester plied the route between Brussels and Louvain [1, 2]. The first biodiesel manufacturing plant designed to produce fuel was started in 1985 at an agricultural college in Austria. Since 1992, biodiesel has been commercially manufactured across Europe, with Germany being the largest producer [3]
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