Rice husk ash as heterogeneous catalyst support for conversion of waste cooking oil to biodiesel

Ganasegaran, Yohen (2022) Rice husk ash as heterogeneous catalyst support for conversion of waste cooking oil to biodiesel. Project Report. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Global fuel demand is rising as a result of rising populations, expanding transportation networks, expanding agricultural, and expanding industry. Renewable resources such as wind and solar power are being used instead of fossil fuels. This research was caried out to crete biodiesel through transesterification process using conventional method by edible waste cooking oil (WCO) as the main feedstock. Acid esterification was conducted by using sulphuric acid (H2SO4), to lower the high free fatty acid level of WCO and carried on with transesterification process by using batch conventional method. Silica dioxide (SiO2), obtained from the rice husks were used as solid heterogeneous catalyst together with methanol (MeOH) as the main alcohol used in the transesterification process. The catalyst was calcined at a particular range of 800 °C to 1000 °C and was evaluated using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) techniques. The acid value of the oil was successfully reduced from 4.26 mgKOH/g to 0.337 mgKOH/g. The optimum yield for the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) reached up to 95.05% with an optimum condition of 12:1 methanol to oil molar ratio, catalyst concentration of 0.5 wt%, and 2 hours of reaction time. By using ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards, the quality of the methyl ester produced was evaluated and were found within the standards.

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