The Production of Biodiesel (Fame) From Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) Using Concentrated Sulphuric Acid as Catalyst
Chapter One
AIMS OF THE STUDY
The major aim as regards this project work includes the following:
- To produce an alternative fuel for diesel engine that is environmentally friendly to substitute diesel obtained from petroleum processes.
- To determine the fuel properties of transesterified oil. These properties includes, Specific gravity (Kg/C), Kinematic viscosity (cSt), Pour point. (oC), Cloud point (oC), Base sediment and water (%), Total acid number (mgKOH/g).
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
- To proffer another possible technique for the production of biodiesel using acid catalyzed mechanism other than base or enzyme catalyzed mechanism.
- To reduce pollution hazards and biodegradability of the consequences of petrodiesel to the environment.
- To help strengthen the nation’s economy, should petroleum fuel which is a non renewable resource be totally consumed or limited in supply.
- To help reduce our reliance on non-renewable fossil fuel.
- To extend the research methodology towards the use of agricultural raw materials for the purpose of this course as a source of energy.
CHAPTER TWO
ADVANTAGES OF THE USE OF BIODIESEL
The advantages of using biodiesel compared to mineral derived diesel or conventional diesel fuel includes:
EMISSION REDUCTION WITH BIODIESEL
Since biodiesel is made entirely from vegetable oil, it does not contain any sulphur, aromatic hydrocarbons, metals or crude oil residues. The absence of sulphur implies a reduction in the formation of acid rain by sulphate emission which generate sulphuric acid in our atmosphere. The reduced sulphur in the blend will also decrease the levels of corrosive sulphuric acid accumulating in the engine crankcase oil over time.
The absence of toxic and carcinogenic aromatics (benzene, toluene and xylene) in biodiesel implies that the fuel mixture combustion gases will have reduced impact on human health and the environment. The high cetane rating of biodiesel (ranges from 49 to 62) is another measure of the additive stability to improve combustion efficiency.
LOW HYDROCARBON EMISSION
As an oxygen vegetable hydrocarbon, biodiesel itself burns cleanly, but it also improves the efficiency of combustion in blends with petroleum fuel. As a result of cleaner emissions, there will be reduced air and water pollution from engines operated on biodiesel blends.
SMOKE AND SOOT REDUCTION
Smoke (particulate material) and soot (unburnt fuel and carbon residues) are of increasing concern to urban air quality problems that are causing a wide range of adverse health effects for their citizens, especially in terms of respiratory impairment and related illness. The lack of heavy petroleum oil residues in the vegetable oil esters that are normally found in diesel fuel means that a boat engine operating with biodiesel will have less smoke, and less soot produced from unburnt fuel.
REDUCTION IN GREENHOUSE GASES
Unlike other “clean fuels” such as compressed natural gas (CNG), biodiesel and biofuels are produced from renewable agricultural crops that assimilate carbondioxide from the atmosphere to become plants and vegetable oil. The carbondioxide released this year from burning vegetable oil biodiesels, in effect, will be recaptured next year by crops growing in fields to produce more vegetable oil starting materials.
CHAPTER THREE
MATERIALS AND METHODS
MATERIALS
The following are a list of apparatus/equipment used for the transesterification of PKO with methanol;
Beakers
Measuring cylinder
Wash bottle
Retort stand
Litmus paper
Oven
Hot plate magnetic stirrer
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Atmospheric distillation apparatus
Koehler cloud/pour point tester
Pensky – Mertens flash point tester
Viscometer
Pour/cloud point tube
Centrifuge machine
Centrifuge tube
Cork
Round bottom flask
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND ISCUSSION
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The acid catalyzed transesterification of PKO with methanol produced 98% of biodiesel. The characterization of the product using various reaction parameters gave the following results shown in Table 3:
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
Palm kernel oil is an economical choice for the production of biodiesel because of its availability and cost. However, the widespread production of biodiesel has been limited by its inability to economically compete with subsidized petroleum diesel.
From the laboratory scale production and characterization of the methyl ester of PKO (biodiesel) studied, it may be concluded that laboratory – scale Nigerian PKO biodiesel gave promising results as alternative diesel fuel with fuel properties in good agreement with the biodiesel specification standard.
RECOMMENDATION
The production of biodiesel is an interesting research project as it exposes one to identifying an alternative fuel. As such, the method applied should be strictly followed and ensure that water is eliminated totally from the process because its presence is problematic to the biodiesel.
It is also recommended that large scale production of biodiesel be encouraged. This will help to create employment opportunity and add to the Nation’s economy as the by-product (glycerol) obtained from the process has lots of industrial uses. It can be used for the production of toilet soaps, drugs, beverages, tooth paste, alkyd resins e.t.c.
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- Biodiesel- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2009.pp5
- Chitra, B. D. and Alamu, A. E. (2005). Optimization of various transesterification process. J. App sci 9: 11-12.
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