International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT)

Volume 2 Issue 1, April 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190

11
www.ijaert.org
Process Optimization of Methanol Application in Biodiesel Production
HarunaIbrahim
*
, Abdulkarim S. Ahmed, Idris M. Bugaje and Ibrahim A. Mohammed-Dabo
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria-Nigeria.
Abstract:
Fast depletion of worlds fossil oil reserves and
increasing environmental degradation has created a
greatdemand for environmentally benign renewable and
sustainable energy resources.Biodiesel is a renewable
energy substitute to fossil diesel for use in compression
ignition engines. However, the cost of production of
biodiesel is too high, making it less economically
competitive compared to fossil diesel. Application of
excess methanol has been identified as one of the major
cost of production. An investigation into the optimum
quantity of methanol requires for transesterification was
conducted by producing biodiesel from Jatropha curcas
seed oil and methanol in the ratio of 1:3, 1:4.5, 1:6,
1:7.5, 1:9. 1:10.5 and 1:12 oil to methanol using alumina
supported calcium oxide catalyst. It was found that the
yield obtained from mole ratio of 1:3 oil to methanol
was 93.31% which was third highest yield. Thehighest
was obtained from mole ratio of 1:9 which was
97.89%.The study also found that the catalyst used
suppressed the production of co-product, glycerol.
Keywords: methanol, optimum quantity, production cost,
biodiesel yield.
1. INTRODUCTION
Fast depletion of worlds fossil oil reserves and
increasing environmental degradation has created agreat
interest for environmentally benign renewable and
sustainable energy resources. Biodiesel has emerged as
asustainablealternative to fossil diesel and its usage have
been encouraged due to its better lubricating ability,
higher cetane number, negligible sulphur content, and
absence of aromatic hydrocarbon compounds. Biodiesel
is a renewable, biodegradable fuel made from vegetable
oils and animal fats[1]. A lot of people have produce
biodiesel but at higher temperatures, longer reaction
times and with large quantity of alcohol with the fear
that the reaction is reversible. At the end of the reaction,
large quantity of alcohol in most cases methanol is left to
be recovered. A lot of money, energy and material are
required to carry out the recovering of the excess
methanol which contributes immensely to the high
production cost. In most biodiesel production, three
distillation columns are required for effective recovery
of the methanol; one column for recovery methanol from
biodiesel, one for methanol from glycerol and the third
for further purification of the recovered methanol to high
grade for reuse.
Nabi and Hogue [2] produced biodiesel from linseed oil
with 20% methanol i.e. about 5.5:1 moles of methanol to
oil using 0.5% NaOH catalyst, the maximum methyl
ester yield obtained was 88% after 15 hours at
55
0
C.Apita and Temu[1] got 80% and 97% yield at 35
0
C
and 45
0
C using 6:1 methanol to castor oil and 1% NaOH
catalyst for a reaction time of 60 minutes. A lot
methanol has been wasted by super critical method
which requires 40-42 moles of methanol to 1 mole of oil
[3]. This condition is so necessary because, methanol
boils at 65
0
C while super critical method takes place at a
temperature of 250
0
C and above. At this temperature,
large quantity of methanol would have lost before
conversion is attained. Yet super critical method has
never achieved up to 99% conversion despite large
quantity of methanol wasted. A transesterification of
rapeseed oil using 9 moles of methanol to 1 mole of oil
by co-solvent method achieved 93.7% [4].
There is a need for producing biodiesel at cost effective
in order to attract entrepreneurs. As a prospective fuel it
is required for it compete with fossil diesel
economically, hence production at cost effective is
imperatively important. One the factors that raise the
production cost is the use of excess methanol which
requires a lot of energy, labour and materials for its
recovery. This investigation was carried out at different
quantities of methanol keeping the mass of oil (Jatropha
curcas) constant. The yields of methyl esters obtained
were compared to determine the optimum quantity of
methanol is required for cost effective in biodiesel
production.
2. MATERIALS AND METHOD
The materials used in this investigation were, Jatopha
curcas seed oil, methanol, alumina supported calcium
International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT)
Volume 2 Issue 1, April 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190
12
www.ijaert.org
oxide catalyst, magnetic stirrer, thermometer, conical
flask and weighing balance. 50 g of Jatropha curcas
seed oil was transesterified with 5.4 g of methanol (in
the ratio of 3 moles of methanol to one mole of oil) and
0.2 g of calcium oxide catalyst at 60
0
C for 60 minutes.
Using the same quantity of the same sample oil and
alsosame method six more productions were carried out
with 8.1 g, 10.8, 13.5 g, 16.2 g, 18.9 g and 21.6, of
methanol At the end of the reaction the products were
filtered to remove the catalyst. The filtrates were
analyzed with GC-MS to determine the conversions.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1: Conversions and excess methanol
Mole
ratio
Mass
of oil
(G)
mass of
methanol
(g)
Excess
methanol
(g)
Conversion
(%)
3:1 50 5.4 93.31
4.5:1 50 8.1 2.7 84.18
6:1 50 10.8 5.4 86.35
7.5:1 50 13.5 8.1 92.12
9:1 50 16.2 10.8 97.89
10.5:1 50 18.9 13.5 97.32
12:1 50 21.6 16.2 92.12
As shown in Table 1, the conversion from stoichiometric
ratio (3:1) was 93.31%. This falls to 84.18% with 8.1 g
methanol (0r 4.5:1) and then rises to 97.89% and again
falls to 92.12%. Application of higher quantity of
methanol does not increase the yield as many believe.
The fluctuation in the yields of methyl esters in Table 1
was due to malfunctioning of the magnetic stirrer
otherwise higher and uniform yield would have been
obtained.The highest yield was 97.89% at molar ratio of
9:1 (methanol to oil) probably that was the best working
condition of magnetic stirrer. Stoichiometric ratio of 3
moles of methanol to 1 mole of oil is just enough for
good biodiesel that would be cost effective.A
comprehensive study of optimum conditions for
biodiesel production was carried by Singh et al [5] with
alkaline catalysts; a yield of 94.27% methyl ester was
achieved in 3:1 methanol to canola oil molar ratio at the
temperature of 50
0
C with potassium methoxide. From
all the products analyzed by GC-MS, it was also found
that none has a glycerol yield more than 2.5%. Some
productions do not have glycerol at all. This indicates
that alumina supported calcium oxide catalyst
suppressedglycerol production.
Figure 1: Conversion of oil to methyl ester against mole
ratio
The methyl ester yield of 3:1 methanol to oil molar ratio
can be compared with optimum biodiesel yields studied
by Fadhilet al [6] using 6:1 methanol to oil and KOH
catalyst of which they obtained 91.83% and 94.0% at
reaction temperatures of 32
0
C and 60
0
C respectively for
60 minutes. Gerald et al [7] claimed that excess
methanol is required to obtain high degree of
conversion, but according the results obtained from this
work and that of Fadhilet al [6], excess methanol only
add additional cost to the process making the product
more expensive. This is because, the excess methanol
has to be recovered which requires materials, energy and
labour. Another argument is that the reaction is
reversible; hence, excess methanol is required to push
the forward reaction to completion. Again, the argument
is disputed by Rubiet al [8] that the reverse reaction
does not take place or negligible because, the
glycerol does not dissolve in the
product.Furthermore, an optimum yield of 93.5%
was achieved by Vyaset al [9] at 30
0
C for 50
75
80
85
90
95
100
3
:
0
1
4
.
5
:
1
6
:
0
1
7
.
5
:
1
9
:
0
1
1
0
.
5
:
1
1
2
:
0
1
C
o
n
v
e
r
s
i
o
n

(
%
)
Mole Ratio
Yield (%)
International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT)
Volume 2 Issue 1, April 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190
13
www.ijaert.org
minutes with methanol to molar ratio of 9:1 using
sodium hydroxide catalyst.
4. CONCLUSION
Transesterification of Jatropha curcas seed oil and
methanolwas performed using alumina supported
bulk calcium oxide catalyst with methanol to oil
molar ratios of 3:1, 4.5:1, 6:1, 7.5:1, 9:1, 10.5:1 and
12:1. The highest yield obtained was 97.89% with
mole ratio of 9:1. The stoichiometric ratio of 3:1
had the third highest yield of 93.31%. The process
suppressed the production of glycerol which is the
co-product of the stoichiometric equation.With a
well designed and constructed equipmentand
suitable catalyst good, clean, safe and dry biodiesel
can be producedwithout or with negligible glycerol
at the stoichiometric ratio of 3:1 methanol to oil.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This is to acknowledge that the materials and facilities
used for this work belong to the National Research
Institute for Chemical Technology, NARICT, Zaria,
Nigeria and is appreciated.
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(http://www.scirp.org/journal/aces) Copyright
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