An alkali catalyzed trans-esterification of rice bran, cottonseed and waste cooking oil

Abstract

In this research work, biodiesel production by trans-esterification of three raw materials including virgin and used edible oil and non edible oil has been presented. A two step method following acidic and alkali catalyst was used for non edible oil due to the unsuitability of using the straight alkaline-catalyzed trans-esterification of high FFA present in rice bran oil. The acid value after processing for rice bran, cottonseed and waste cooking oil was found to be 0.95, 0.12 and 0.87 respectively. The influence of three variables on percentage yield i.e., methanol to oil molar ratio, reaction temperature and reaction time were studied at this stage. Cottonseed oil, waste cooking oil and rice bran oil showed a maximum yield of 91.7%, 84.1% and 87.1% under optimum conditions. Fuel properties of the three biodiesel satisfied standard biodiesel fuel results.nema