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Production of Biodiesel from Waste

Edible Oil
Process Description:
Developing alternative energy source to replace traditional fossil fuels has
recently become more and more attractive due to the high energy demand,
the limited resource of fossil fuel and environmental concerns. Biodiesel fuel
derived from vegetable oils or animal fats is one of the promising possible
sources to be substituted for conventional diesel fuel and produces favorable
effects on the environment. It can be used directly or mixed with
conventional fuel for diesel engines or as a heating fuel.
However, in spite of the favorable impact, the economic aspect of biodiesel
production is still a barrier for its development, mainly due to the lower price
of fossil fuels. The costs of biodiesel production are highly dependent on the
costs of feedstock which affect the cost of the finished product up to 60
75%. Currently, partially or fully refined and edible-grade vegetable oils, such
as soybean, rapeseed and sunflower, are the predominant feedstock for
biodiesel production, which obviously results in the high price of biodiesel.
There is a great deal of waste cooking oil every day. However, most of the
waste oils are still regarded as waste materials and disposed of inadequately,
which is not only environmental pollution but also an enormous waste. The
waste vegetable oils, including rancid oil and waste cooking oil, are potential
feedstock for biodiesel production with the advantage of low cost.
Since the high FFA level and water content could result in soap formation
which consumed the catalyst and reduced catalyst efficiency, the
pretreatment steps will carried out to reduce the FFA content. Then, biodiesel
will be produced by transesterification, which will be affected by many
factors, such as methanol/oil molar ratio, reaction time, temperature and
catalyst amount.

Statistical Analysis:
The range and levels of the variables investigated are listed in table below. A
Factorial Experimental Design applied with four design factors, namely,
methanol/oil molar ratio (X1), catalyst concentration (X2), reaction time (X3)
and temperature (X4). The values chosen for experimental design are:
methanol/oil molar ratio 4:1 - 8:1, catalyst amount 0.4 - 1.6% (w/v), reaction
time 45 - 85 min and temperature 25 65 oC. A 2k full-factorial experimental

Design for four independent variables at two levels is employed and the total
number of experiments was 16 (2k), where k is the number of independent
variables. Statistical analysis of the model is performed to evaluate the
analysis of variance (ANOVA). Once the experiments are performed, the
response variable (conversion to biodiesel) will be fitted a First-order model
in order to correlate the response variable to the independent variable. The
general form of the first degree polynomial equation is as follows:
k

Y =

x
i=1

i=1

j=1

x . ij xi
j=1

xj + e

Where i and j are the linear coefficients, respectively, is the regression


coefficient, k is the number of factors studied and optimized in the
experiment and e is the random error.

Figure 1 Probability Plot of Production of Bio Diesel

Figure 2 Residual Plots or factors

Factors & levels


Table 1 Factors, Levels & Units

Parameter
Methanol / Oil
ratio
Catalyst Conc.
Reaction Time
Temperature

Units

Factor

Level

---

X1

4:1

8:1

%
min
o
C

X2
X3
X4

0.4
45
25

1.6
85
65

Application of Factorial Experimental Design


2k:
There is large number of experiments if we change the variables or factors
one by one, to get better results we perform the Factorial Experimental
Design 2k. In this case we will examine 4 four factors. Our design experiment
has 16 design combinations. Thus expected results are:
Table 2 Factorial Experimental Design 24

Sr.No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Methanol /
Oil ratio
4:1
8:1
4:1
8:1
4:1
8:1
4:1
8:1
4:1
8:1
4:1
8:1
4:1
8:1
4:1
8:1

Catalyst
Conc.
0.4
0.4
1.6
1.6
0.4
0.4
1.6
1.6
0.4
0.4
1.6
1.6
0.4
0.4
1.6
1.6

Reaction
Temperature
Time
45
25
45
25
45
25
45
25
85
25
85
25
85
25
85
25
45
65
45
65
45
65
45
65
85
65
85
65
85
65
85
65

Conversion
71.28
60.89
64.27
76.95
78.04
80.04
74.50
76.82
77.07
70.35
74.58
76.10
74.64
76.71
76.72
79.80

Conclusion:
The waste oil with high FFA (29%) could not be ransesterified with the
commercially available alkaline catalyst, since these free fatty acids could
quickly react with the alkaline catalyst to produce soaps that inhibit the
transesterification process. A two-step process will developed to convert the
high FFA oil to biodiesel. The pretreatment step (distillation refining) reduces
the FFA content to less than 2%. The second step is alkalinecatalyzed
transesterification process which converts the products of the pretreatment
step to methyl esters. The effects of methanol/oil molar ratio, catalyst
concentration, reaction time and temperature are analyzed by Factorial
experimental Design.
It shows that the waste oil is quite suitable as the low-cost feedstock for
biodiesel production, which not only resolved the environmental problem of
the waste oil but also reduced the cost of biodiesel production.

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