Studies on optimization of transesterification of certain oils to produce biodiesel

R. Gangadhara and N. B. L. Prasad

Abstract

The oil seed production in the country presently meets only 60-70% of its total edible oil requirements and the rest is met through imports. India also has a potential of collecting 5 million tons of tree-borne oilseeds (TBO) of which only
one million tons are being collected presently. The consumption of edible oil is very high in the country and still the indigenous production does not meet the demand and considerable amount of edible oil is imported and it is therefore, not
advisable to divert these sources for biodiesel production. On the other hand, the non-edible oil resources can be a solution for biodiesel production. Non- edible oil from the plant seeds is the most promising alternative fuel for internal
combustion engine because it is renewable, environment friendly, non-toxic, biodegradable has no sulphur and aromatics, has favourable combustion value and higher cetane number. Extensive work has been done on the transesterification of non-edible oils; however, no significant work has been done on the optimization of transesterification process, oil characterization and fuel analysis of most of the non-edible seed oils. In the present work, optimization of transesterification process and analysis of biodiesel from non-edible oil was done; based on optimized protocol for biodiesel production from non-edible oilseeds of Neem and Pongamia converted into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) through base catalyzed transesterification using an optimum ratio of 1:6 (Oil : Methanol) at 60oC. Biodiesel from these sources was analyzed for qualitative and quantitative characterization by using, GC-MS and FT-IR techniques. Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of biodiesel, it is concluded that the biodiesel from these species can be feasible, cost effective and environment friendly.