Transesterification of Palm Oil to Biodiesel and Optimization of Production Conditions i.e. Methanol, Sodium Hydroxide and Temperature

摘要

Biodiesel is an alkyl ester of long chain fatty acids and considered as an alternative to lower the appalling consequence of fuel on the environment. It is produced by transesterification of a fat or oil with a short chain primary alcohol like methanol and alkali like sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Palm oil (Elaeis guineensis) was used as source to produce biodiesel and Box Behnken experimental design was applied to see the effect of various process parameters, i.e. methanol quantity, alkali concentration and temperature for the optimization of calorific value of biodiesel. Response surface plots and contour plot were created in order to perceive the optimum condition. Though, all the three variables significantly affected the calorific value of the palm biodiesel, but it was found that methanol was more effective variable than alkali concentration and temperature. It was observed that 12.5 ml methanol/50 ml oil and 0.4 gm NaOH/50 ml oil and 55℃ temperature were optimum condition, where the calorific value of palm biodiesel is 9297.206 kcal/kg.