Abstract
Biodiesel plays a vital role in replacing the conventional diesel fuel used in various applications. The present study deals with the improvement of yield for biodiesel produced from Azadirachta indica oil (Neem oil) with calcium oxide catalyst. The calcium oxide catalyst was derived from chicken bone waste by means of calcination process after which it was converted to fine powder by means of ball milling process. The size of the prepared calcium oxide particles was evaluated by means of particle size analyzer and it was found to be in the range of 214.7 nm. The current study deals with the optimization of biodiesel yield by means of influencing various factors such as reaction temperature, methanol to oil ratio and catalyst concentration. The range of values selected in the present study are 4:1 to 12:1, 50 to 60°C and 0.5 to 1.5 w % for methanol to oil ratio, reaction temperature and catalyst concentration respectively. The reaction time was maintained constant to be about 60m. The maximum yield of 92.5 % was obtained with methanol to oil ratio of 9:1, 1.5 wt. % catalyst concentration and 60° reaction temperature with reaction time of 60m. Also, the biodiesel yield was significantly improved with conventional NaOH catalyst of 88 %.
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