Abstract:
It has become increasingly attractive to the globe to replace fossil fuels, because of the the
limited supply, volatile oil prices, and worries about greenhouse gas emissions. In the
majority of developed countries, the primary source of energy are fossil fuels. Fossil fuels
definitely meet the world energy requirement of over 90% and are the most secure
existing energy supplies. Researchers have estimated that fossil supplies will be cut short
in 2050 owing to hundreds of thousands of times the increasing demand and use of fossil
fuels relative to natural production. On the other hand, biodiesel is both a biodegradable
and biogenic petrol. This usually consists of biological resources that are composed of
triacylglycerols (TAGs), including edible oils, animal fats, algal oils, non-edible oils,
used kitchen oil and recycled fats, and alcohols which through transesterification
processes form a new ester and glycerol.
The study reports first time the production of biodiesel from waste cooking oil using
20Ca/AC-650 catalyst in a transesterification process. To obtain high yield operating
parameters were optimized. Highest yield of 96% was obtained at 1:8 oil to methanol
molar ratio, 65oC temperature, 160 mins of reaction time and 5 wt% catalyst
concentration. Prepared catalyst was further characterized using SEM, EDX, XRD, BET
and SEM. Characterization result revealed that synthesized catalyst has high crystalline
catalyst, even pour size distribution and effective catalyst loading. Furthermore, catalyst
showed high basicity which was the key parameter to obtain high yield. Afterwards the
catalyst used was regenerated and reutilized after regeneration. Synthesized biodiesel was
afterwards characterized through GC-MS analysis. EN 14214 and ASTM D6751
standards were compared with physicochemical characteristics. Results showed that all
values were within the set limitations. Therefore, biodiesel produced from waste cooking
oil using catalyst synthesized from biomass and waste eggshell had great potential to be
utilized in diesel engines.
