Sodium hydroxide catalyzed coco methyl ester transesterification: a parametric and optimization studies on the effect of free fatty acid and water on the reaction yield and ester purity

Date

3-2010

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

College

College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Manolito E. Bambase Jr.

Committee Member

Rex B. Demafelis, Butch G. Bataller, John Meynard M. Tengco

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Abstract

The study aimed to do a parametric study on the effect of free fatty acid (FFA) and water on the reaction yield and purity of the ester produced via hydroxide-catalyzed methanolysis of coconut oil, and using the results obtained from the parametric study, to determine an optimized amount of combined FFA and water at reactions done under room temperature, 0.5 (wt) % sodium hydroxide catalyst, 6:1 methanol to coconut oil molar ratio, 1100 rpm reaction speed, 50 minutes reaction time and 24 hours settling time. Two parameters, namely initial FFA and water contents of the feed oil, were studied. The mass distributions of the ester and glycerol layers were measured and as the amount of water and/or FFA was increased, the mass of the glycerol layer also increases as opposed to the mass of the ester layer which decreases. A factorial design was used to determine the optimum FFA and water contents of the oil fed using the lower limit of 0 (wt) % both for water and additional FFA and an upper limit of 1 (wt) % for both FFA and water, reacted at the same operating conditions. The optimization study was done to determine the combination in which ester production was still feasible and not necessarily the one that conforms to biodiesel standards. Using Response Surface Methodology (RSM), optimum ester purity of 80.5% was obtained at 2.04 x 10-10 ppm water and 1.09 wt % FFA on the feed oil.

Language

English

LC Subject

Biofuels, Coconut

Location

UPLB College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology

Call Number

LG 993.5 2010 E62 G36

Document Type

Thesis

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