Biodiesel Production from Tannery Solid Waste
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Date
2012-11
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The dwindling resources of fossil fuels coupled with the steady increase in energy consumption
have encouraged research interest in alternative and renewable energy sources. Biodiesel is one
of the most promising alternatives for fossil fuels. To foster market competitiveness for
biodiesel, it is necessary to produce biodiesel from economically viable and environmentally
sound feed stocks. This study deals with the biodiesel production from tannery solid waste.
The tannery solid wastes, from different sections of processing units, have been characterized for
their fat content. The investigation proved that it was the fleshing waste which has a potential fat
content (23%) to be used as biodiesel feed stock.
The fleshing oil converted to free acid methyl ester (FAME) or biodiesel using a two step acid
and base catalyzed esterification and transesterification reactions respectively. The effect of oil
to alcohol molar ratio, the amount of catalyst and temperature on biodiesel production was
investigated using Design Expert 7.0.0 and optimum reaction conditions were determined. The
fuel properties of the biodiesel were also studied according to the ASTM standard. The result
showed that fleshing oil can be a very viable and commercially competitive biodiesel feed stock
even though some of the properties like cloud point needs further improvement.
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Process Engineering