Biodiesel Production from Wado Seed Oil
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Date
2011-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
is a renewable, biodegradable, environmentally benign fuel for use in the diesel engines. It can be produced from renewable sources such as vegetable oils or animal fats. Although this fuel has gained worldwide recognition for many years, it is not being widely commercialized mainly because it is more expensive than petroleum diesel. A two-step acid-base catalyzed method was successfully used in the synthesis of biodiesel from wado seed oil. The study satisfies the objective of reducing the high FFA present in the oil, followed by KOH catalyzed transesterification. The variables affecting the acid value and the methyl ester yield, such as molar ratio, catalyst concentration, reaction time and reaction temperature, were investigated to determine the best strategy for producing optimum biodiesel from the oil. Acid value and FAME yield were used to verify the optimization of the ester conversion process. Based on the amount of WSO used, a reduction of acid value from 12.6% to 2.1 % mg KOH/g was obtained. A 94.5% FAME conversion was also obtained using a methanol/oil ratio of 6:1, 1.0% mass KOH and 55°C reaction temperature. The important properties of the biodiesel (density, kinematic viscosity, cloud point, cetane number, iodine value, and high heating value) were compared to those of ASTM and EN standards for biodiesel. The comparison shows that the wado seed oil methyl ester could be used as an alternative to diesel.
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Chemical Engineering