ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL EMISSIONSFROM BIODIESEL PRODUCED FROM GROUNDNUT AND SOYBEAN OILS

Abstract

Biodiesel an alternative fuel to fossil fuel) does not only require production at commercial level, but the production process also needs to be a clean and environmental friendly. This research aim at assessing the potential emissions form the biodiesel produced from the trans-esterification of groundnut oil and soybean oil, using KOH homogenous catalyst. The impact assessment of the potential emissions wasanalysed, quantified and characterized using Simapro 8.2.3.0. Comparatively, soybean biodiesel produced higher yield of biodiesel compare to yield obtained from groundnut oil biodiesel, under same experimental conditions. Also, high yields of biodiesel observed (97.1 % using both soybean oil and 92.1 % using groundnut oil) were at experimental conditions of 52.5 o C and catalyst concentration 0.9 wt/wt%, at constant methanol/oil mole ratio of 6 and reaction time of 1 hour. The impact assessment of the emissions from the biodiesels obtained from the two oils revealed that groundnut oil biodiesel has the potential to release more fresh water toxic substances, terrestrial toxic substances and human toxic substances.