An Approach of Utilizing Restaurant Waste Vegetable Oil for the Production of Biodiesel

Abstract

The lack of conventional fossil fuels and the increase of the polluting emissions generated by combustion have increased the necessity for alternative fuels, such as biodiesel. Huge efforts have been carried out in recent years in order to develop an alternative fuel from renewable resources. Biodiesel production has received considerable attention in the recent past as a biodegradable and nonpolluting fuel. The production of biodiesel by the transesterification process employing alkali catalyst has been industrially accepted for its high conversion and reaction rates. The use of cooking oil as raw material is a very interesting alternative for the production of biodiesel. Further, to reduce production cost, in the present research, restaurant waste vegetable oil was used as the feedstock. The effects of methanol as solvent to oil molar ratio and reaction time and temperature on the production of biodiesel were investigated. The results indicated that methanol as solvent, 3:1 methanol: oil molar ratio was found to be optimum at 60°C and 400 rpm. Under these optimal conditions, the conversion of free fatty acids to fatty acid methyl esters was found to be 89%. The crucial biodiesel properties of waste vegetable oil are within the American standard test method specifications.