Uthman H and Abdulkareem A S (2014). The Production and Characterization of Ethyl Ester (Biodiesel) from Waste Vegetable Oil as Alternative Petrol Diesel, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, ISSN 1556–7036, Vol. 36, 2135-2141. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2011.563274

Abstract

A process for the production of the ethyl ester from “used frying oil” for use as biodiesel fuel has been studied. The essential part of the process is the transeterification of the used frying oil with ethanol, in the presence of a catalyst (NaOH), to yield the ethyl ester as a product and glycerine as a by-product. Prior to the use of the waste vegetable oil as a feedstock in the production of biodiesel, the oil sample was treated with silica gel as an adsorbent and the results obtained indicate that the treatment method employed positively affects the free fatty acids and iodine value of the oil. Results obtained on the characterization of the biodiesel produced also shows that the viscosity, density, flash point, pour point, sulphur content, vapor pressure, and heat of combustion are 4.8 cP, 850 g/cm3, 145oC, –15oc, 0.02%, 64 kPa, and 42,600 kJ/kg, respectively. These values compared favorably with the petrol diesel. The distillation properties of the produced biodiesel also compared favorably with that of the petrol diesel with an initial boiling point of 141oC, final boiling point of 347oC, total recovery of 97.74%, with residue and loss of 1.23 and 1.03%, respectively