OLEIC FATTY ACID AND CARBONIZED BAMBARA NUTSHELL CATALYST IN THE OPTIMIZATION OF BIODIESEL PRODUCTION USING DOE PRO XL
Decades of study have favored the utilization of oleic acid (OA) as an efficient free fatty acid (FFA) for biodiesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Ether�FAME) production via esterification/transesterification synthesis routes, without utilizing Bambara Nut Shell (BNS) as catalyst. The aim of this study is to optimize FAME production by varying the methanol (CH?OH)/oil molar ratio (8:1-12:1), reaction time (60-180 min), and catalyst weight (1-4 wt.%) using Design of Experiments (DOE) Pro XL Version 21.00.000, with a focus on utilizing BNS as a catalyst for the esterification process. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) were objectively employed to identify the functional groups and morphology of the BNS material that allow for its usage as esterification catalyst. A 2D interaction, 3D surfaces and contours plots were analyzed using the software for the response variable sensitivity to the 3 parameters. At a sulfonation temperature of 130? and a constant reaction temperature of 65?, a 20 run observed data under full factorial design, respectively pinpoints at 11.05:1 CH3OH/oil ratio, 122.37 min time and 3.15 wt.% catalyst concentration as the optimal factors. It corresponds to 98.27% optimum FAME conversion in line with a quadratic model, which provided up to 96.06% experimentally verified value. Residual analysis revealed that data points with higher leverage often exhibit larger residuals and higher Cook's D values, suggesting that these points are more influential and could potentially skew the regression model's results. From the forgone results, it was discovered that BNS catalyst was efficient in the production of biodiesel using OA and will potentially convert feedstock with high fatty acid. Further research could focus on optimizing these parameters for different feedstocks to improve biodiesel yield and process efficiency.
Authors : Kefas, H.M., Silas, K., Abubakar, A.M. and Titus, A.
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 10(2) Date Uploaded : 5th December 2024