Ultrasound supported synthesis of waste mangifera indica linn biodiesel: an optimization using whale algorithm

Abstract

ABSTRACT The synthesis of biodiesel from vegetable oil is not the right choice as its feedstock and production cost is expensive than diesel. To address this, the study reports the implementation of Whale Algorithm (WA) for the optimization of biodiesel synthesis from cost-effective waste feedstock, i.e. waste mango seed kernel oil (WMS) using ultrasound-supported methanolysis process. The influence of methanolysis process variables, i.e. methanol:WMS molar ratio (12:1–20:1), sonication time (10–30 min), heterogeneous catalyst concentration (1–3 wt.%), and ultrasound amplitude (25–75%) on the yield percentage of WMS methyl ester were examined and optimized. The WA model is used to augment the yield percentage upto 90.88% at optimum methanol:WMS molar ratio of 16.32:1, the sonication time of 19.75 min, the quantity of heterogeneous catalyst of 2.28 wt.% and an ultrasound amplitude of 54.31%. 1H-NMR spectral approach was adopted to ensure the formation of WMS methyl ester. The combined use of heterogeneous catalyst along with ultrasonication significantly improved the conversion percentage of WMS methyl ester to 90.88% over the conventional transesterification process yield of 83%. The outcome of this study confirmed that the optimization by WA showed marginal improvement in yield percentage of WMS methyl ester as compared to those obtained using response surface methodology (RSM), a commonly applied optimization method.