Biodiesel Purification Using Organic Adsorbents: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

In present scenario, biodiesel has been accepted as clean alternative fuel by most of the developed and developing countries. Biodiesel meets most of chemical/physical standard of petro-diesel. As an alternative fuel, biodiesel once produced contains several impurities such as soap and glycerin. The free fatty acids in the oil react with the sodium or potassium catalyst to form soaps. The performance of the biodiesel depends heavily on the purity of the final product and the complete absence of particulates or contaminants and thus must be eliminated from the product. Traditionally, the elimination of the water-soluble portion of these materials is usually accomplished by wet washing the biodiesel. However, with this method, the water insoluble impurities remain in the biodiesel. The purpose of this work is to compare the efficiency of different adsorbents, Amberlite BD10 DRY and Purolite PD 206 in the purification of biodiesel.