Practical 3: Biodiesel production on a laboratory

scale

Name : Sidla S.

Student no. : 201614444

Module : BCH 313

Date : 05/03/2018
Title: Biodiesel production on a laboratory scale.
Abstract
Chemists have created a substitute for diesel by chemically changing various fats and oils by
using a chemical technique called transesterification, transesterification process can either be
a base or an acid catalysed reaction but most of them uses a base as catalyst in order to achieve
more biodiesel as a product however there is also a disadvantage associated in using a base as
a catalyst. In this practical we used methanol as an alcohol instead of ethanol due to its low
molecular weight and potassium hydroxide as a base. At the end of the practical two layers
were formed in the separating funnel and we expected the upper layer to be biodiesel since
biodiesel has low density than that of glycerol but when that layer was exposed to flame nothing
happened and we assume that could be as a result of the fact that base-catalysed
transesterification reaction also results in the formation of some by-products other than
biodiesel such as excess alcohol and trace amounts of water which could have been removed
through washing the biodiesel layer with a suitable solvent such as dry ether.
Introduction
Biodiesel production is the process of producing a biofuel through the chemical reactions
transesterification and esterification. This process involves the use of vegetable or animal oils
in this process oils will be reacted with short-chain alcohols such as methanol or ethanol. The
alcohols used should be of low molecular weight, ethanol being one of the most used for its
low cost. However, greater conversions into biodiesel can be reached using methanol.
Transesterification reactions of alcohols and oils requires the present of a catalyst and these
reactions can either be catalysed by acids or bases but the most common means of production
is base-catalysed transesterification. This path has lower reaction times and catalyst cost than
those posed by acid catalysis. However, alkaline catalysis has the disadvantage of its high
sensitivity to both water and free fatty acids present in the oils. Most common oils used in
biodiesel production include virgin vegetable oil, sunflower oil and tallow (Taylor, et al.,
1997).
Most cooking oils are recycled and are processed so as to remove impurities from cooking,
storage, and handling, such as dirt, charred food, and water. Virgin oils are refined, but not to
a food-grade level. Degumming to remove phospholipids and other plant matter that is
common, though refinement processes vary, regardless of the type of oil, water is removed as
its presence during base-catalysed transesterification causes the triglycerides to hydrolyse,
giving salts of the fatty acids soaps instead of producing biodiesel. Products of the reaction
include not only biodiesel, but also by-products, soap, glycerol, excess alcohol, and trace
amounts of water. All of these by-products must be removed to meet the standards, but the
order of removal is process-dependent. The density of glycerol is greater than that of biodiesel,
and this property difference is exploited to separate the bulk of the glycerol coproduct. Residual
methanol is typically recovered by distillation and reused. Soaps can be removed or converted
into acids. Residual water is also removed from the fuel (Lodish, et al., 2007).
Aim
To synthesize biodiesel on a laboratory scale from a base catalysed transesterification reaction
of methanol and canola oil by exploiting the property that products formed in transesterification
reaction have different densities having biodiesel denser than any other by-products which
makes them separable.

Materials and methods

Volume of 150ml of canola oil was transferred to a large beaker and it was heated to a
temperature in the range of 45°C to 50°C, when that temperature was reached a solution of
methanol with 3g of potassium hydroxide in it was added gradually making sure that the
temperature was maintained in the same range until all of it was added. The mixture was stirred
using the stirring rod for about an hour whilst the contents of the beaker was in a water bath at
50°C.After stirring the mixture was placed in a separation funnel so that it can separate into
layers. After separation of layers the bottom layer was removed leaving the upper layer in the
funnel and then it was also removed and placed in a petri dish.
The picture showing the layers in the separating funnel before and after separation is
attached.
Answers to write up additional questions
A. Transesterification is the process of exchanging alky group of an ester with an alkyl
group of an alcohol and this type of reaction is often catalysed by a base or an acid.
B. Heating an alcohol with a strong base results in the deprotonation of an alcohol thereby
generating a strong nucleophile called an alkoxide ion

C.1. Saturated fatty acid are fatty acids that lacks double bonds
2. Unsaturated fatty acid these are fatty acids that have a double bond along their
chain

3. Polyunsaturated fatty acid these are fatty acids that contain more than one double
bond on their backbone

4. (I) An example of saturated fatty acid is palmitic acid

(II)An example of unsaturated fatty acid is oleic acid
(III)An example of polyunsaturated fatty acid is linoleic acid

D. (I)saturated fatty acids are solid at room temperature this is because they have
maximum possible number of hydrogens, therefore the hydrocarbon chains in these
fatty acids are ,thus fairly straight and can pack closely together making them fats
solids at room temperature

(II)Unsaturated fatty acids exists as liquids at room because the double bond inhibits
the movement of hydrogen atoms around the double bond.

E. How are intermolecular forces affected by the above structural features?

Double bonds in unsaturated fatty acids are stronger than single bonds and the length
of double bond is shorter than that of a single bond in saturated fatty acids because
London Dispersion forces are the only intermolecular forces present in saturated fatty
acids whereas in unsaturated fatty acids we find London Dispersion forces and dipole-
dipole moments.

F. Glycerol bears hydroxyl groups and whenever there is a hydroxyl group hydrogen
bonds exists as intermolecular forces between the hydrogen and the oxygen atom as a
result of that such molecule will have a high boiling point as well more viscous

G. These layers separate due to their differences in density the one that is denser will
be the bottom layer and in that case it will be glycerol

H. Residual methanol and sodium hydroxide will be more soluble in glycerol because
polarity since polar substances only dissolve in polar solvents and in that case glycerol
is polar
I. Intermolecular forces that can be used to explain viscosity are dipole-dipole
moments and London dispersion forces which are much more pronounced in glycerol
followed by biodiesel and lastly vegetable oils and the trend of viscosity decreases in
that order

J.Using intermolecular forces, explain why biodiesel has better physical properties to
serve as a fuel
than the starting vegetable oil
Vegetable oils have dipole-
.
Discussion
Diesel is a common fuel used to power many large trucks, and heavy equipment. Diesel fuel is
made from crude oil that was formed over millions of years by the decomposition of prehistoric
plants and animals. Chemical processes that rely on materials that cannot be supplied in a
sustainable fashion are fundamentally harmful to the environment and such processes can
eventually deplete a resource, While it makes little sense to become dependent on any resource
that exists in finite quantities, many processes are in this very position because although they
are finite, they are also vast. Petroleum is a good example because it is presently so plentiful,
too little regard has been given to finding a renewable alternative. Yet our petroleum reserves
are sure to run out, possibly in a matter of decades. However chemists have created a substitute
for diesel by chemically changing various fats and oils by using a chemical technique called
transesterification, chemists can turn oils from various crops most commonly canola and soy
into a viable diesel substitute. One of the major advantages of using biodiesel instead of diesel
is that biodiesel is derived from a renewable resource. As mentioned before, diesel comes from
crude oil, which takes millions of years to form. During the next few million years, more
underground pools of crude oil will be formed however, it is consumed at a rate that is
drastically faster than that at which it is forming (Mills and Ben, 2009).

Biodiesel also creates lower sulphur emissions when it is burned, which helps reduce acid rain.
It also breaks down more quickly in the environment, thus lessening the severity of an
accidental spill compared with crude oil. Finally, unlike fossil fuels such as gasoline, biodiesel
does not cause an overall increase in the amount of carbondioxide (a greenhouse gas) in the
atmosphere when the fuel is burned. Soybeans and other plants that produce oils for making
biodiesel take up carbondioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. When oil is extracted from
the mature plants and burned, and the remainder of the plant material decomposes,
carbondioxide is returned to the atmosphere. Thus there is a balance between the amount of
carbondioxide removed from the atmosphere by growing plants and returned to the atmosphere
by the same plants. No excess carbondioxide is produced to contribute to global climate change
(Walker and Wilson, 1994).

In this practical we used potassium hydroxide as a base catalyst, this catalyst was used to
initiate the reaction and allows the oils to break. After allowing the mixture to stand at room
temperature we waited for the layers to separate, the layers did separate but none of them
responded to flame. This might be as a result of the oil not being purified first before the
experiment since this was a base catalysed reaction some traces of water was supposed to be
removed from the oil as its presence during base-catalysed transesterification causes the
triglycerides to hydrolyse, giving salts of the fatty acids instead of producing biodiesel. Also
the other thing is the products of the reaction include not only biodiesel, but also by-products
such as soap, glycerol, excess alcohol, and trace amounts of water. All of these by-products
must be removed to meet the standards (Hames and Nigel, 2005).
References
 Hames D and Nigel H, 2005, Molecular Biology, 4th edition, page 56-46
 Lodish H, Arnold B, Lawerence Z, 2007, Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, page
64-65.
 Mills A and Ben G, 2009, students companion to stryers biochemistry, volume 1, page
150.
 Taylor D, Green O, Stout G, 1997, Biological Science 1&2, 3rd edition,page 54-58.
 Walker J and Wilson K, 1994, principles and techniques of practical biochemistry, 4 th
edition, page 342-348.