A study of biodiesel production from waste vegetable oil using eggshell ash as a heterogeneous catalyst

Abstract

While biodiesel has the potential to resolve the energy crisis, its production is hampered by both feedstock and catalyst availability. The aim of this current study is to investigate the production of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil (WVO) as feedstock under heterogeneous catalysis, mediated by calcined eggshell ash. WVO, characterised by 9% free fatty acid (FFA) and 0.17wt% water content, was employed as feedstock in the biodiesel production via transesterification reaction. The composition of WVO was determined using Gas chromatography (GC) analysis. The eggshell was washed with distilled water to remove impurities, dried in an oven at 105°C, and then crushed into fine particle of 75μm, and finally, calcined in a muffle furnace at 800°C. The chemical properties of the catalyst were assessed as follows: 1) using X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine the major component phase of the element; 2) using X-ray fluorescent (XRF) to determine the elemental composition of the eggshell ash; 3) using Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET) to define the structure, the surface area, pore volume and pore diameter of the eggshell ash; and 4) using SEM to show the morphology structure of the element. The XRD analysis performed on eggshell ash showed 86% CaO as a major component in the catalyst; the remaining 14% was composed of MgO, SiO2, SO3, P2O5, Na2O, Al2O3, K2O and Fe2O3, as obtained from XRF. The BET result of the catalyst prepared was characterised by large pore diameter (91.2 Å) and high surface area (30.7m2/g), allowing reactants to diffuse easily into the interior of the catalyst used