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Production of Biodiesel from Waste Cooking oil by Transesterification process

using Potassium Hydroxide as Catalyst

Article · April 2017

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December 2016, Volume 7, No. 4
International Journal of Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Production of Biodiesel from Waste Cooking oil

by Transesterification process using Potassium
Hydroxide as Catalyst
Nasar Alama*, Muzzamail Hussaina, Faisal Mushtaqa, Muhammad Shahida
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Balochistan University of Information
Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) Airport Road, Quetta Pakistan.

*Corresponding Author
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
Biodiesel can be used directly in engines without any engine modification, as biodiesel has high cetane number. Biodiesel
can be produced from the domestic oil resources like vegetable oil, tallow, animal fats and waste cooking oil by
transesterification process at ambient pressure and temperature. In this study, production of biodiesel was carried out in a
small batch reactor by transesterification of waste cooking oil with potassium hydroxide catalyst. The washing of biodiesel
was carried out by two methods i.e. washing with distilled water and washing with vinegar. Titration of waste cooking oil
for finding the free fatty acid contents and their reduction with the glycerolysis in presence of ZnCl as a catalyst to enhance
the transesterification were investigated. The results of this study suggest that the production of biodiesel can be carried
out with a high yield of 92%. Results obtained were found comparable to pure biodiesel.
Keywords: Waste cooking oil; catalyst; transesterification;

1. Introduction:

The world is facing energy crisis all around and that mixing of 5% of biodiesel fuel to the petro diesel fuel
consuming energy on a regular basis which produces from can save 623 million dollars per year[7]. Biodiesel can be
the use of fossil fuel that is oil, coal, and natural gas. produced from different mechanisms like direct use or
According to United States energy information blending in diesel fuel, thermal cracking of vegetable oil
administration report on world power consumption which and transesterification[8]. In this study the
reported that the most popular energy consumption sources transesterification is focused. Transesterification is
are the fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas)[1]. The common process for the production of biodiesel and in this
depletion of fossils fuels is obvious predication from the process the ester compound is exchange by an alcohol in
scientific community along with environment concerns. alkyl group[2, 9]. Biodiesel can be produced by
Therefore it is very imperative to look for the alternate transesterification of triglyceride with alcohol and a
source of energy which is environment friendly, having catalyst. This reaction occur stepwise with mono and
greater or equal efficiency than the fossil fuel. Alternative diglycerides as intermediate product. Selecting low cost
new and renewable fuel has the ability to give a solution to feed stock for producing biodiesel can effectively reduce
social problems concern to toddies fuel. Among these the total production cost to 60-70%. The primary aim of
renewable energy sources biodiesel is one of the best this study was to investigate the production rate, yield,
sources to use it in diesel engines without any effects of raw material on the transesterification. This work
modification[2, 3]. Biodiesel is environment friendly fuel describes the optimum condition for biodiesel production.
and can extend the life of diesel engine because, it is more The KOH was selected as catalyst for the
lubricant than the petro diesel [2-5]. Biodiesel brings down transesterification because it dissolved with ethanol
the emission of CO2 by 78%, and CO emissions by about extremely very faster than any other catalyst like NaOH
50% and also completely eliminates sulphur emissions[5, and the KOH based glycerin is very easy to handle.
6]. It is estimated that every 5 gallons of B20 use in
vehicles replace 75 gallons of crude oil. It is perceivable

235
 pink gives the amount of KOH to be used per liter of WCO
and percent FFA. The same process of titration was
repeated for two samples. For each three samples three
different values of titration were recorded (T 1, T2, and T3),
the final value was selected by taking average of the three
Figure 1. Structure of mono, di, and triglycerides, where values i.e.
the R1, R2 and R3 represent the fatty acids chain T1=2.1 ml, T2= 1.8 ml, T3=1.7 ml
Tf = 1.86
For 0% FFA contents KOH required per liter oil is 7g [16].
From the purity of KOH which is 90% pure, the extra
amount will be required is
7/0.90=7.7g and the oil was titrated at 1.86 so additional
amount of KOH required to process the biodiesel were
1.86+7.7=9.56g and had 1.25% FFAs as illustrated in
Figure 2. Transesterification reaction Table1.

Many researchers have successfully converted waste Table 1. FFA information from Titration
cooking oil (WCO) to biodiesel through transesterification ml Titration %FFA KOH
reaction[4]. (grams) per
liter WCO
0 0 7.00
2. Material and methods 0.5 0.36 7.50
WCO samples were collected from BUITEMS 1 0.72 8.00
cafeterias. Different samples were blended. Ethanol was 1.5 1.07 8.50
selected to be a reacting reagent and KOH was selected as 2 1.43 9.00
catalyst for transesterification reaction. For reducing free 2.5 1.86 9.50
fatty acids (FFAs), glycerolysis process of WCO was 3 2.14 10.0
carried out with ZnCl as catalyst. The produced biodiesel 3.5 2.50 10.5
was then washed with two different agents i.e. distilled 4 2.86 11.0
water and acetic acid. The material were purchased from 4.5 3.22 11.5
Rahat chemical store Quetta. 5 3.57 12.0

2.1. Pre-treatment of WCO 2.3. Transesterification Procedure

The quality of waste cooking oil determines the For proceeding transesterification reaction
quality of biodiesel[10]. Repeatedly frying can cause an
ethoxide was prepared first prepared by adding 9.56g of
increase the FFA contents. If the FFA contents increase
KOH to 200 ml of ethanol. The volume of ethanol used
(3%w/w) then extra care on WCO must be taken because
an unwanted side reaction can take place and will never 20% of the volume of the waste cooking oil. Ethoxide is
proceed to transesterification reaction[11]. Glycerolysis of toxic in nature and its vapors are even more dangerous so
WCO reduces the FFA contents in it and direct leads to the goggles and gloves were used as safety measures. The
formation of monoglycerides and enhance the ethoxide was then added to one liter of waste cooking oil
transesterification reaction[12]. For this purpose 13g/100g in a jar and was put on the mixer for mixing them
WCO glycerol was added to WCO in presence of ZnCl aggressively to lead the process to biodiesel production.
catalyst. The mixing was run after every interval for about 80
minutes to avoid the side reaction because of high release
2.2. Determination of FFA contents by Titration
of heat. After mixing the mixture was left undisturbed in
In order to find the FFA percent titration process
is used[13]. A sample of waste cooking was titrated three warm place for 24 hours for phase separation. In phase
times. Titration solution was prepared by adding 1 gram of separation the biodiesel gets separates from glycerol
potassium hydroxide to 1 liter of distilled water. In a small phase[4, 5].Glycerol is heavier than the biodiesel it was
beaker 1 ml of waste cooking oil was added to10ml of settled down at the bottom due to gravity. Separation
ethanol and was stirred well to get a mixture. A gram of funnel was used to drain the glycerol from biodiesel. The
phenolphthalein powder was added as an indicator to conservation of biodiesel was determined as follow.
mixture. KOH solution was poured drop by drop by a Amount of biodiesel produced
Yield (%) = [ × 100] ____ (1)
burette to the mixture until it turns into a pink solution. The Amount of oil feed
number of ml of titration solution used to turn the mixture
236
2.4. Washing Biodiesel reaction the water must not exceed 0.3% and with the FFA
When the biodiesel is produced it contain percent less than 3%w/w.
suspended particles and impurities like the unreacted For reducing the FFA contents to faster the
catalyst and unreacted alcohol which is usually not transesterification reaction glycerolysis was carried out
significant[14]. which clearly reduce the FFA contents to much extent to
Washing of biodiesel was carried out by two process the biodiesel. As illustrated in Figure 3, curve
means i.e. washing with the distilled water and washing showed that with ZnCl as catalyst the FFA get reduced in
with acetic acid. Distilled water at 40 to 50 ºC was added amount in low time and that without ZnCl catalyst it
to the biodiesel to remove the unwanted materials from the required more time to reduce the FFA contents. It was
oil. The water was then left to settle down at the bottom as concluded that the reaction time significantly influenced
its density is higher than the biodiesel so all the impurities the efficiency of the glycerolysis.
will also set down in water. Water washing has a
3.2. Effect of the catalyst loading
disadvantage that whenever it is gently mixed with
This study investigated that catalyst loading effect the
biodiesel it leads to soap formation and emulsion which
conversion of the triglycerides into monoglycerides. The
effectively reduce the yield of biodiesel and has also effect of loading catalyst is showed in Figure 4. The
provide chances to increase the FFA[15]. Therefore to keep amount of WCO was fixed 25 ml and the experiment was
emulsion at bay adding acetic acid is best solution to it and carried out by using different amount of catalyst. The curve
will also work to keep soap from forming between oil and shows high yield of about 88% at 7g catalyst .It was found
water[16]. For this purpose half of liter of acetic acid was that further increase in amount from 7g have no effect on
added to the biodiesel to ensure the impurities to settle the conversion of triglyceride.
down with vinegar. Vinegar was then drain out of biodiesel
through separating funnel.
90
Triglyceride conversioN (%)
80
3. Results and Discussion 70
60
3.1. Effect of waste cooking oil on transesterification 50
reaction 40
A study reviewed the influence of FFA percent and the 30
water content in the production of biodiesel[9]. The study
20
found that raw material selected as raw material should be
10
anhydrous with lower FFA percent.
0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
12.0
0.1g ZnCl Catalyst (g)
10.0
Figure 4. Effect of the catalyst loading on the conversion
No Catalyst of the triglycerides at 65ºC.
FFA content (%)

8.0

6.0
3.3. Effect of the molar ratio of ethanol to oil on Ethyl
4.0
ester yield
The effect of mass ratio of ethanol to oil on the conversion
2.0
to ethyl ester was investigated by carrying out experiments
0.0
varying the ethanol to oil ratio between 6:1 and 12:1, the
0.0 2.0 results are depicted in Figure 5. It can be observe from the
Time (hr) 4.0 6.0
figure that after 3.5 hours the conversion to ester was about
69% w/w with molar ratio of 6:1. High yield of (84%) ethyl
Figure 3. Reduction of Fatty Acids by Glycerolysis14 ester was observed at 12:1 molar ratio.
(100 g WCO, 13 g glycerol, 0.1 g ZnCl, 200ºC, 11 psi
vacuum).

It is still possible to produce biodiesel if the conditions kept

the same but the yield is reduced due to emulsion and soap
formation. Therefore for proceeding transesterification

237
 study revealed that the chemical glycerolysis can be used
as a pre-treatment method for high FFA feedstock for
90
Ethyl ester yield (%)
biodiesel production. It was concluded that the values of
80 density, viscosity, and flash point were similar to that of
70
standard specifications for biodiesel.
60
50 6:1 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
40
8:1 Thanks are due to Asif H. Khoja (NUST) for help in
30
20 10:1 revising the paper.
10 12:1
0
0 1 2 3 4 REFERENCES
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