Thesis Archive
Biodiesel Production of Cocos Nucifera by in situ Transesterification using Methanol as Alcohol Solvent, n-Butanol as Alkanols Co-Solvent, and Sodium Hydroxide as Homogeneous Base Catalyst (2011)
Neil S. Villaronte
Marian Abbey D. C. Torres
Rodel E. Pedragosa
Abstract:
-“At present, the use of biodiesel as an alternative source of energy is widely explored, specifically from oil-bearing crops like copra. The conventional method transesterification primarily uses refined oil, methanol and alkaline catalyst to produce biodiesel. However, an alternative method has been developed for high-yield production, which is a simultaneous direct method of extraction and reaction in feedstock; it is known as in situ transesterification. This process eliminated waste disposal and n-hexane usage, thus reducing time and cost production. This study aimed to investigate the percent conversion, percent purity and percent yield biodiesel produced by alkaline catalyzed in situ transesterification of the dried meat of Cocos nucifera (copra) at different reaction temperature, reaction time and alcohol to oil molar ratio. Co-solvency of n-butanol to methanol and oil was investigated. Samples were made from 24 runs of a full factorial design with three variables. From the feedstock used, 51.667% (w/w) was the average yield of coconut oil to copra. Moisture content of the feedstock was also found to be 4.517%. The product was evaluated by determining its physical and chemical properties, yield, purity and conversion. Influences of the parameters were evaluated using multiple regression analysis in Microsoft Excel. Copra as a feedstock produced high conversion due to its high oil content of 65-68%. Based on the results, the parameters: temperature, reaction time and alcohol to oil molar ratio showed insignificant effects on both conversion and yield. The highest percent yield of 52.43%. The highest percent conversion of 84.67%,. The highest percent purity reached was 97.81% which was strongly dependent on the mass of the lighter phase, the ester, along with the total glycerol content.”
Adviser:
Luis F. Razon
Raymond R. Tan
[email protected]
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