Biodiesel fuel production from waste canola cooking oil as sustainable energy and environmental recycling process

The increase of petroleum price and environmental problems has triggered the finding of alternative and renewable energy. Biodiesel produced by transesterification of triglycerides with alcohol, is one of the energy forms that has attracted the attention of many researchers due to various advantages associated with its usages. Waste cooking oil is considered as the most suitable material due to its readily-availability and cost-effectiveness. In this study, the transesterification of waste canola cooking oil was carried out using lower alcohol to oil molar ratios to study its feasibility. Molar ratio of methanol, types and concentrations of catalyst were selected to obtain a high quality biodiesel fuel with the specification of American Standard for Biodiesel Testing Material (ASTM D 6751) and European Norm (EN 14214). The highest biodiesel yield was obtained (49.5%) under conditions of 1:1volumetric oil-to-methanol weight ratio, 0.5% NaOH catalyst at 55oC reaction temperature and 250 rpm stirring speed. The results showed that biodiesel production from different oil to methanol ratio, catalyst types and concentration exhibited considerable differences. There was little difference in viscosity, acid value and chemical elements (Fe, Mg, Ca, Na, P etc.) at different parameters. The result showed that the optimal combination which gave the highest production of biodiesel in transesterification carried out for 2 hours by using methanol to oil molar ratio of 1:1 catalyzed by 0.5 % sodium hydroxide and produced biodiesel can be used as fuel in diesel engine.