Transesterification of Waste Cooking Oil Using Natural and Chemical Materials as Catalyst

Abstract

Due to the greenhouse effect of increased fossil fuel use, resulting in an increase in the period during which fossil fuels will remain available. Because of its advantages for the environment and its production from renewable resources, biodiesel has grown more appealing. As there is a supply of used cooking oil, interest in producing biodiesel is rising. This research examines how CaO and sawdust function as heterogeneous catalysts in transesterification regarding ethanol to produce bio-diesel from the used cooking oil. The impacts of the subsequent variables on the yield of the created biodiesel were investigated. Those parameters include the catalyst concentration (0.5-3 wt%), reaction period (1-4 hr), the molar ratio of ethanol to oil (8:1– 20:1), and temperature (45 to 80 °C). This led to the discovery that CaO catalyst is more efficient compared to the sawdust catalyst, with the maximum percentage yield being 75% for the sawdust catalyst and 95% for the CaO catalyst under catalyst conditions (0.50%), ethanol oil molar ratio of 20:1, and 65 Celsius temperature for 3 hours. It was evident from the results that the biodiesel fuel produced by the catalyst developed in this study fell within the acceptable range of biodiesel fuel.