Parametric Study on Transesterification using Hyroxide-impregnated Calcium Oxide as Catalyst and Tetrahydrofuran as Co-solvent
Author : Tecson, Miguel Gian Miranda
Major Adviser : Bambase Jr., Manolito E.
Committee Members : Dizon, Lisa Stephanie H.; Guerrero, Gino Apollo M.; Sanchez, Denise Ester S.
Year : 2019
Month : July
Type : Thesis
Degree: BS
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Abstract
Biodiesel was produced from the transesterification of oils using methanol in the presence of base catalysts and co-solvent. The experimental design employed a factorial design with three factors and a single response. The three parameters tested were: type of oil feedstock (coconut oil, palm oil, and soybean oil), type of catalyst (sodium hydroxide (NaOH), calcium oxide (CaO), and hydroxide-impregnated calcium oxide (OH-CaO)) and presence of co-solvent (tetrahydrofuran (THF)), while the response was fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) purity. Wet impregnation was performed for the synthesis of OH-CaO. The transesterification was conducted under the following conditions: ambient temperature, reaction time of 15 min, methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 6:1, catalyst wt. of 1 % for NaOH, 15 % for CaO and OH-CaO, and THF-to-methanol volumetric ratio of 1.15:1. The highest FAME purity was observed at coconut, NaOH, with THF resulting to a FAME content of 65.4883 %. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the two main parameters (type of oil feedstock and the type of catalyst) and two interactions (type of oil feedstock and type of catalyst, and type of catalyst and presence of co-solvent) had significant effects on the FAME purity observed. Catalyst impregnation resulted to higher performance comparable to NaOH using coconut oil as feedstock. The addition of THF showed an increase in FAME purity for NaOH and OH-CaO and a decrease in FAME purity for CaO.
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