EVALUATION OF BIODIESEL PRODUCTION USING EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Abstract

The high cost and lack of availability of feedstocks is limiting the expansion of biodiesel production in Turkiye. The aim of this study was to examine the potential of waste frying oils as an alternative feedstock. Three waste frying oils were considered: olive oil, corn oil and sunflower oil. The process of biodiesel production by transesterification was performed based on an experimental design in the presence of KOH and methanol at 65 degrees C. Parameters were the kind of vegetable oils, amount of catalyst and the volumetric ratio of alcohol to oil at 120 min. of agitation time, and coded as x(1), x(2) and x(3) investigated at three levels (-1, 0 and 1), respectively. The dependent variable, yconversion, was taken as the conversion percentage of transesterification (%), which was calculated as the amount of free glycerol product. Furthermore, the work has also concluded requiring solutions to overcome technical problems based on usage of waste cooking oil.