Abstract
The effect of five process parameters namely: reaction time, reaction temperature, stir speed, catalyst concentration and methanol-oil ratio on the transesterification process of waste frying oil to biodiesel were investigated. Optimization of the five process parameters and their quadratic cross effect was carried out using a four level-five factor central composite experimental design model and response surface methodology with each factor varied over four levels. Taking the biodiesel yield as the response of the designed experiment, the data obtained were statistically analysed to get a suitable model for optimization of biodiesel yield as a function of the five independent process parameters. The optimization produced 30 feasible solutions whose desirability equals to 1 and the selected (most desirable) condition was found to be: reaction time (3 hrs), reaction temperature (58°C), stir speed (305.5 rpm), catalyst concentration (1.4 wt%) and methanol to oil ratio (6:1), while the optimum yield of biodiesel for this condition was found to be 91.6%. The developed model was tested and validated for adequacy by substituting random experimental values as input parameters and the output parameters from the developed model were close to the experimental values. The biodiesel properties were characterized and the results obtained were found to satisfy the standard for both the ASTM D 6751 and EN 14214.
Highlights
Biodiesel is one of such renewable alternative fuel derived from triglycerides by transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats (Nie, et al, 2006; Shibasaki-Kitakawa et al, 2007, Aworanti et al, 2013)Biodiesel is sustainable, renewable, biodegradable, safe to handle and simple to use, environmental friendly, non-toxic, and essentially free of sulphur and aromatics. (Monyem et al, 2001, Highina et al, 2012)
Waste cooking oil was obtained from Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti restaurants in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria and was filtered and pre-heated to remove impurities
Acid transesterification was used for converting used cooking oil to biodiesel using 99.8% pure methanol, hydrogen chloride (HCl) and NaOH as catalyst
Summary
Biodiesel is one of such renewable alternative fuel derived from triglycerides by transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats (Nie, et al, 2006; Shibasaki-Kitakawa et al, 2007, Aworanti et al, 2013). Biodiesel is a fuel composed of mono-alkyl ester of long chain fatty acid derived from vegetable oil or animal fat, designated as B100 and meeting the requirements of ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) D 6751 or EN (European Norm) 14214 (Hai, 2002, European Biodiesel Board, 2006). It can be used either in the pure form (B100) or as blends with fossil diesel in diesel engines (Canacki and Van Gerpen, 2005; Basiron and May, 2005). According to Bello (2008), biodiesel can be produced from used frying oil, coconut oil, palm oil etc. high demand of diesel fuel and the availability of waste cooking oil indicate that biodiesel from used oil cannot completely replace fossil diesel fuel but can contribute to reduce the dependency on petrol based diesel (Martin and Grossman, 2011)
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