Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 19 No 1 (2015): 8 – 19

 

 

 

OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL FROM WASTE COOKING OIL IN THE PRESENCE OF BIFUNCTIONAL γ-Al₂O₃-CeO₂ SUPPORTED CATALYSTS

 

(Pengoptimuman Parameter Pemprosesan untuk Penghasilan Biodesel daripada Sisa Minyak Masak dengan Menggunakan Mangkin Dwifungsi Berpenyokong γ-Al₂O₃-CeO₂)

 

Anita Ramli¹* and Muhammad Farooq²

 

¹Fundamental and Applied Sciences Department,

²Chemical Engineering Department,

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia.

 

*Corresponding author: anita_ramli@petronas.com.my

 

 

Abstract

Huge quantities of waste cooking oils are produced all over the world every day, especially in the developed countries with 0.5 million ton per year waste cooking oil are being generated in Malaysia alone. Such large amount of waste cooking oil production can create disposal problems and contamination to water and land resources if not disposed properly. The use of waste cooking oil as feedstock for biodiesel production will not only avoid the competition of the same oil resources for food and fuel but will also overcome the waste cooking oil disposal problems. However, waste cooking oil has high acid value, thus would require the oil to undergo esterification with an acid catalyst prior to transesterification with a base catalyst. Therefore, in this study, bifunctional catalyst supports were developed for one-step esterification-transesterification of waste cooking oil by varying the CeO₂ loading on γ-Al₂O₃. The bifunctional supports were then impregnated with 5 wt% Mo and characterized using N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherm to determine the surface area of the catalysts while temperature programmed desorption with NH₃ and CO₂ as adsorbents were used to determine the acidity and basicity of the catalysts. Results show that the γ-Al₂O₃-CeO₂ supported Mo catalysts are active for the one-step esterification-transesterification of waste cooking oil to produce biodiesel with the Mo/γ-Al₂O₃-20 wt% CeO₂ as the most active catalyst. Optimization of process parameters for the production of biodiesel from waste cooking oil in the presence of this catalyst show that 81.1% biodiesel yield was produced at 110^oC with catalyst loading of 7 wt%, agitation speed of 600 rpm, methanol to oil ratio of 30:1 and reaction period of 270 minutes.

 

Keywords:  biodiesel, waste cooking oil, bifunctional catalysts, γ-Al₂O₃-CeO₂

 

Abstrak

Sisa minyak masak dihasilkan dalam kuantiti yang amat besar di seluruh dunia setiap hari terutamanya di negara membangun di mana Malaysia sahaja menghasilkan sebanyak 0.5 juta tan sisa minyak masak setahun. Kuantiti yang sangat besar ini menimbulkan masalah dari segi pelupusannya dan boleh mengakibatkan pencemaran tanah dan air jika tidak dilupuskan dengan baik. Penggunaan sisa minyak masak sebagai bahan mentah untuk penghasilan biodesel bukan sahaja dapat menghindari persaingan terhadap sumber minyak yang sama bagi sumber makanan dan bahan bakar, tetapi juga dapat menyelesaikan masalah berkaitan pelupusan sisa minyak masak yang sempurna. Walau bagaimanapun, sisa minyak masak mempunyai nilai asid yang tinggi yang memerlukan minyak itu melalui proses esterifikasi terlebih dahulu menggunakan mangkin asid sebelum proses esterifikasi menggunakan mangkin alkali. Oleh itu, dalam kajian ini, penyokong bersifat dwifungsi telah dibangunkan bagi tindak balas serentak esterifikasi-tranesterifikasi sisa minyak masak dengan pelbagai muatan CeO₂ di atas γ-Al₂O₃. Penyokong dwifungsi itu kemudian diimpregnasi dengan 5% Mo dan dicirikan menggunakan isoterma jerapan-nyahjerapan menggunakan N₂ untuk penentuan jumlah luas permukaan mangkin manakala nyahjerapan berpengatur suhu menggunakan NH₃ dan CO₂ sebagai bahan penjerap digunakan untuk penentuan sifat keasidan dan kealkalian mangkin. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan bahawa mangkin Mo berpenyokong γ-Al₂O₃-CeO₂ adalah aktif di dalam tindak balas serentak esterifikasi-tranesterifikasi sisa minyak masak untuk penghasilan biodesel dengan Mo/γ-Al₂O₃-20 wt% CeO₂ merupakan mangkin yang paling aktif. Pengoptimuman parameter pemprosesan untuk penghasilan biodesel daripada sisa minyak masak menggunakan mangkin ini mendapati 81.1% biodesel dapat dihasilkan pada suhu 110^oC dengan muatan mangkin sebanyak 7%, kelajuan pengacauan setinggi 600 rpm, nisbah methanol kepada minyak sebanyak 30:1 dan masa tindak balas selama 270 minit.

 

Kata kunci:  biodesel, sisa minyak masak, mangkin dwifungsi, γ-Al₂O₃-CeO₂

 

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