Synthesis of Biodiesel from a Crude Blend of Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil

Biodiesel industry is expanding as new challenges arise from environmental impacts caused by hydrocarbon based fuels. However, the industry has shown some downfall recently due to the increasing demand of vegetable oils for human nutrition's need. Crude rubber seed and palm oils were used in...

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Main Author: Modhar Ali, Mohammed Khan
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2009
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Online Access:http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9398/1/2009%20-Synthesis%20Of%20Biodiesel%20From%20Crude%20Blend%20Of%20Palm%20Oil%20And%20Rubber%20Seed%20Oil.pdf
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spelling my-utp-utpedia.93982013-10-22T12:09:44Z http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9398/ Synthesis of Biodiesel from a Crude Blend of Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil Modhar Ali, Mohammed Khan TP Chemical technology Biodiesel industry is expanding as new challenges arise from environmental impacts caused by hydrocarbon based fuels. However, the industry has shown some downfall recently due to the increasing demand of vegetable oils for human nutrition's need. Crude rubber seed and palm oils were used in this study to synthesize biodiesel since both can be extracted and produced here in Malaysia from their abundant plantations. The respective oils and the blends were characterized. An equi-volume blend of crude palm oil and rubber seed oil was chosen for biodiesel synthesis and exhibited the following properties: density of0.91754 g/cm3, viscosity of39.35cP, heating value of 38.1 MJ/Kg, acid value 31.4, FFA 11.9%, refractive index of 1.465, mono-,di- and triglycerides were 2.5, 7.3 and 70 wt%. Sulfur content was acceptable at 0.03 lwt%. Fstty acid composition for the oil blend was established and the calculated iodine value was 106.3. Two stage transesterification is performed in this study to remedy the high acid value of the oil blend. Design of experiments using taguchi technique was used to study the interaction of parameters involved in the production. Temperature, alcohol and catalyst amount were studied independently for both acid and base reactions to find their relevant effects. The optimum operating conditions for acid esterification which could reduce the FFA% to lower than 0.6% were 65°C, 15/1 methanol to oil ratio and 0.5wt% catalyst. The optimum operating conditions for base transesterification were 55°C, 8/1 methanol to oil ratio and 2wt% potassium hydroxide which could achieve the highest possible conversion to methyl esters exceeding 98 %. The quality of biodiesel produced matched that of international standards. The kinetics of free fatty acids alcoholysis in acid esterification was investigated and the rate equation had a reaction order of (2.24). Rate constant was (6.769xl03 lit/gmol.min) while the activation energy and Arrhenius constant were 60.289 and 14.06 x 109 KJ/g respectively. A nonlinear model was developed and with experimental data to predict FFA concentration change throughout the reaction. Kinetics of methyl ester formation in base transesterification was studied using differential method. Three techniques were applied, namely, graphical method, finite difference and linear regression. None of which could predict a rate law to represent the reaction. Consequently, a model was developed to represent the rate of reaction and the system using nonlinear regression of the experimental data. 2009-06 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9398/1/2009%20-Synthesis%20Of%20Biodiesel%20From%20Crude%20Blend%20Of%20Palm%20Oil%20And%20Rubber%20Seed%20Oil.pdf Modhar Ali, Mohammed Khan (2009) Synthesis of Biodiesel from a Crude Blend of Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil. Masters thesis, UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGIPETRONAS.
institution Universiti Teknologi Petronas
building UTP Resource Centre
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Teknologi Petronas
content_source UTP Electronic and Digitized Intellectual Asset
url_provider http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/
language English
topic TP Chemical technology
spellingShingle TP Chemical technology
Modhar Ali, Mohammed Khan
Synthesis of Biodiesel from a Crude Blend of Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil
description Biodiesel industry is expanding as new challenges arise from environmental impacts caused by hydrocarbon based fuels. However, the industry has shown some downfall recently due to the increasing demand of vegetable oils for human nutrition's need. Crude rubber seed and palm oils were used in this study to synthesize biodiesel since both can be extracted and produced here in Malaysia from their abundant plantations. The respective oils and the blends were characterized. An equi-volume blend of crude palm oil and rubber seed oil was chosen for biodiesel synthesis and exhibited the following properties: density of0.91754 g/cm3, viscosity of39.35cP, heating value of 38.1 MJ/Kg, acid value 31.4, FFA 11.9%, refractive index of 1.465, mono-,di- and triglycerides were 2.5, 7.3 and 70 wt%. Sulfur content was acceptable at 0.03 lwt%. Fstty acid composition for the oil blend was established and the calculated iodine value was 106.3. Two stage transesterification is performed in this study to remedy the high acid value of the oil blend. Design of experiments using taguchi technique was used to study the interaction of parameters involved in the production. Temperature, alcohol and catalyst amount were studied independently for both acid and base reactions to find their relevant effects. The optimum operating conditions for acid esterification which could reduce the FFA% to lower than 0.6% were 65°C, 15/1 methanol to oil ratio and 0.5wt% catalyst. The optimum operating conditions for base transesterification were 55°C, 8/1 methanol to oil ratio and 2wt% potassium hydroxide which could achieve the highest possible conversion to methyl esters exceeding 98 %. The quality of biodiesel produced matched that of international standards. The kinetics of free fatty acids alcoholysis in acid esterification was investigated and the rate equation had a reaction order of (2.24). Rate constant was (6.769xl03 lit/gmol.min) while the activation energy and Arrhenius constant were 60.289 and 14.06 x 109 KJ/g respectively. A nonlinear model was developed and with experimental data to predict FFA concentration change throughout the reaction. Kinetics of methyl ester formation in base transesterification was studied using differential method. Three techniques were applied, namely, graphical method, finite difference and linear regression. None of which could predict a rate law to represent the reaction. Consequently, a model was developed to represent the rate of reaction and the system using nonlinear regression of the experimental data.
format Thesis
author Modhar Ali, Mohammed Khan
author_facet Modhar Ali, Mohammed Khan
author_sort Modhar Ali, Mohammed Khan
title Synthesis of Biodiesel from a Crude Blend of Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil
title_short Synthesis of Biodiesel from a Crude Blend of Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil
title_full Synthesis of Biodiesel from a Crude Blend of Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil
title_fullStr Synthesis of Biodiesel from a Crude Blend of Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil
title_full_unstemmed Synthesis of Biodiesel from a Crude Blend of Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil
title_sort synthesis of biodiesel from a crude blend of palm oil and rubber seed oil
publishDate 2009
url http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9398/1/2009%20-Synthesis%20Of%20Biodiesel%20From%20Crude%20Blend%20Of%20Palm%20Oil%20And%20Rubber%20Seed%20Oil.pdf
http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9398/
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score 13.160551