Abstract
This article is focused on the production of biodiesel from the waste cotton seed oil (WCSO), after purification, as an alternative to fossil fuels. Waste oil was collected from Sodecoton, a factory producing cotton seed oil in the Far North Cameroon. The WCSO was subjected to purification using activated coal, followed by transesterification under basic conditions (potassium hydroxide (KOH)), using methanol and ethanol. Some physico–chemical properties of biodiesel, such as absorbance of waste and purified oil, density, viscosity, water content, acid value, and its energy content were determined. The result of treating the WCSO with activated coal indicated that purification efficiency of activated coal increased with the contact time and the mass of the absorbent. Absorbance results directly proved that activated coal removed unwanted components. In the same way, activated coal concentration and exposure time influenced the level of free fatty acids of WCSO. The yield of methyl ester was 97%, while that of ethyl ester was 98%. The specific gravity at 25 °C was 0.945 ± 0.0601. An evaluation of the lower calorific value (PCI) was done in order to study the energy content of biodiesel. This was found to be a value of 37.02 ± 3.05 MJ/kg for methyl ester and 36.92 ± 7.20 MJ/kg for ethyl ester. WCSO constitutes feedstock for high volume, good quality, and sustainable production of biodiesel, as well as a realistic means of eliminating the pollution resulting from the indiscriminate disposal of waste oils from both household and industrial users.
Highlights
The global economy depends heavily on fossil energy generated from coal, petroleum, and natural gas
8% (w/v) mass of activated coal purified the waste oil resulting in absorbance values of A = 0.32, A = 0.22, and A = 0.21 with contact times of 10, 20, and 30 min, respectively
The result of waste cotton seed oil (WCSO) treated with activated coal indicates that purification efficiency of activated coal increased with contact time and mass of absorbent (Table 1)
Summary
The global economy depends heavily on fossil energy generated from coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Sodecoton (an oil refinery at Maroua) is one of the oil-producing companies in the Far North Cameroon that consumes a great amount of energy both from hydro power and fossil fuel, but on the other hand, produces over 13 ton of waste oil every month. These large quantities of waste cotton seed oil are not valorized and constitutes a real problem for the company. These wastes cannot be burned, due to their high moisture content, and they are usually disposed of in landfills. These large amounts of wastes can have harmful environmental effects [4]
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