Biodiesel production from sunflower oil by transesterification method.

Abstract

Growing concern regarding energy resources and the environment has increased interest in the study of alternative sources of energy. To meet increasing energy requirements, there has been growing interest in alternative fuels like biodiesel to provide a suitable diesel oil substitute for internal combustion engines. Biodiesels offer a very promising alternative to diesel oil since they are renewable and have similar properties. It is a promising substitute as an alternative fuel and has gained significant attention due to the predicted shortness of conventional fuels and environmental concern. The utilization of liquid fuels such as biodiesel produced from waste cooking oil by trans esterification process represents one of the most promising options for the use of conventional fossil fuels. However, as the biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils and animal fats, there are concerns that biodiesel feedstock may compete with food supply in the long-term. Hence, the recent focus relies on using waste cooking oil as the substantial feed stocks for biodiesel production. In this study, cooking oils such as refined sunflower oil, vacuum fried sunflower oil and used soya bean oil has been subjected to trans esterification reaction by catalytic method obtaining the biodiesel. In the catalytic trans esterification free fatty acids and water always produce negative effects since the presence of free fatty acids and water causes soap formation, consumes catalyst, and reduces catalyst effectiveness. Pre-treatment of oils were employed to reduce the moisture content of the oils. Acid esterification prior to alkali esterification was employed to neutralize the FFA content which reduced the FFA content for alkali esterification increasing the yield up to 97%.