Publications

Abstract : The radical depletion of Hydrocarbon fuels and considerable mount in the price of an existing source of energy increased the demand for an alternative source. Biodiesel is the best substitute as a sustainable and coherent source. Waste cooking oil is an important source of Biodiesel which has very minimal impact on the environment. This work focused to identify the optimized reaction parameters for better yield from waste cooking oil by trans-esterification reaction using Box-Behnken method. The conversion of ester of fatty acid attached to glycerol into Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) trans-esterified with methanol is catalyzed by alkali based catalyst, sodium hydroxide, calcined chicken egg shell and calcium oxide. The four main parameters, waste cooking oil to alcohol molar ratio, reaction period, reaction temperature conditions and catalyst concentration are studied to optimize biodiesel production. Kinetic studies was done for the trans-esterification reaction. The properties of the biodiesel like density, flashpoint and viscosity have also been estimated. The product biodiesel produced were characterized using FTIR and GC–MS to confirm the functional group and presence of methyl esters. NMR analysis is also done to examine the presence of biodiesel.