Journal of Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Management (JoRSTEM)

ISSN: 2456-0197

Production of Methyl Ester from Mixed Oil

(Dairy Waste Scum & Karanja Oil)
Omkaresh B R1, Yatish K. V. 2 , R. Suresh 3
1
Assistant Professor, Department Mechanical Engineering, SIT, Tumakuru, Karnataka, India
2
Scientific Assistant, Bioenergy Research Information & Demonstration Centre, SIT, Tumakuru, Karnataka, India
3
Professor, Department Mechanical Engineering, SIT, Tumakuru, Karnataka, India. Email: omkara313@gmail.com

Abstract—Conventional energy resources or fossil fuels are depleting day by day due to increase in
population, industrialization and transportation all over the world. Hence there is increasing worldwide
concern about developing renewable resources to replace conventional resources. Globally renewable eco-
friendly resources are available in the form of agricultural biomass residues, which can be used as a source
for biodiesel production, but the process of conversion or chemical transformation will become more
expensive. This work involves biodiesel production from Karanja oil (Pongamia Pinata), Scum oil and
Mixed oil (Karanja and Scum) through transesterification process using base catalysts. The percentage yield
of biodiesel obtained from each oil by using homogeneous catalyst (KOH) and heterogeneous catalyst
(Na3PO4) are compared. The biodiesel obtained are blended with conventional diesel in different
proportions and fuel properties like kinematic viscosity, flash point and density are determined for each
blend.

Key words—Fossil fuel, Biodiesel, Transesterification, Fuel properties, KOH and Na3PO4.

I. INTRODUCTION
Rapid development in technology and increasing automation in industries, increased civil constructions and
diminution of liquid fossil fuels creates increase in requirement of fuel and energy. Biodiesel (Fatty acid Methyl
ester) derived from any vegetable oil is renewable, nontoxic fuel which can be obtained by transesterification
process in presence of suitable catalyst. Generally Homogeneous and Heterogeneous catalyst were used. The
homogeneous are preferred due to availability and cheap compared to heterogeneous catalysts [1].
Transesterification rate is very rapid with homogeneous alkaline catalysts. Large quantity of water used to wash the
biodiesel leading to reduce pH value of biodiesel to normal, but this will generate large amount of wastewater
containing high acidity or basicity [2-4]. Use of heterogeneous catalysts is currently preferred because of advantages
of easily separation and purification [5-9]. However, different heterogeneous catalyst developed are quite expensive
and complicated to prepare. [10]. Heterogeneous catalyst process is noncorrosive, reusable, easy separation of final
biodiesel from catalyst and glycerine [11, 12]. Different types of heterogeneous solid catalysts, BaO, SrO CaO
MgO, Na3PO4 have been used for the transesterification of vegetable oils [13, 14].
Three hundred different species of trees in India produces oil seeds [15]. India has the potential to be a leading
world producer of biodiesel by using Non-edible oil seeds as source [16]. Pongamia pinata is a Nonedible oil seeds
bearing tree grows to about 15-25 meters in height [17]. Pongamia seeds contain around 35% oil [18]. Dairy scum is
a less dense floating solid mass usually formed by a mixture of fat, lipids, proteins, packing materials etc. A huge
dairy, which processes large quantity of milk per day, will produce effluent dairy scum every day. Hence, dairy
scum can also be used as raw material for production of biodiesel [19].
Biodiesel has many advantages compared to diesel fuel. It has higher cetane number than diesel and contains no
aromatics, almost no sulphur and 10-12% oxygen by weight. Biodiesel-fuelled engines produce less emissions than
diesel fuel [20, 21]. Biodiesel improves the lubricity, which results in the longer engine component life [22-24].
However, the drawback of biodiesel is tendency to oxidize with air especially at high temperatures [25]. When
diesel engines are fuelled with biodiesel, NOx emissions increases compared to diesel [26]. Physical and chemical
properties of biodiesel have direct impact on performance and emission of the engine [27]. Fuel properties like fire
point, flash point, viscosity, density cloud point, pour point, ash content and copper corrosion were determined.
These properties will affect the performance and emission characteristics of diesel engine [28]. Higher viscosity
causes poor fuel atomization during spray, increases the carbon deposition on fuel filter, demands more energy from
the fuel pump [29].
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 Journal of Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Management (JoRSTEM)
ISSN: 2456-0197

In addition, the higher viscosity of biodiesel fuel affects the start of injection(SOI) and fuel spray characteristics
[30-32]. The density of the diesel fuel is also important parameter, since other parameter like cetane number have
been correlated against it [33]. In addition, the density values have also been used to measure the amount fuel in fuel
system by volumetric method [28]. The flash point does not directly affect the combustion, it makes the biodiesel
safer regarding the storage and transport [34, 35].
This work is based on biodiesel production from Karanja oil, Dairy Scum oil and Mixed oil (both Karanja and
Dairy Scum oil) by using KOH as homogeneous catalyst and Na3PO4 as heterogeneous catalyst and comparing the
percentage yield of biodiesel. This work also involves determining the fuel properties (kinematic viscosity, flash
point and density) of biodiesel and comparing it with diesel.
II. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS AND MATERIALS
A. Materials
The Karanja oil is collected from Biofuel I&D centre, SIT, Tumakuru, Karnataka, India. The Scum oil is
collected from KMF, Tumakuru, Karnataka, India. The Potassium hydroxide, Sodium phosphate and methanol is
purchased from Veeresh Scientifics, Tumakuru, Karnataka, India.
B. Characterization of mixed oil.
The karanja oil and the dairy scum oil are mixed in 50:50 proportions to get the mixed oil. The fatty acid
composition of the mixed oil was analysed using gas chromatography (GC). The data is given in table1.
TABLE I: CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MIXED OIL.

C. Biodiesel Transesterification Reactions

Initially FFA content of mixed oil is found out by using 0.1N NaOH and Phenolphthalein to determine whether
the oil should undergo esterification before transesterification. i.e. If the oil contains free fatty acids content > 4%,
then 2 step transesterification is required to convert oil to its mono esters [24]. The first step, the acid catalysed
esterification and the second step, alkaline transesterification process converts the products of the first step to its
mono esters and glycerol.
Transesterification process consists of a sequence of three consecutive reversible reactions i.e. conversion of
triglycerides to diglycerides followed by diglycerides to monoglycerides. The glycerides were converted into
glycerol and one ester molecule at each step. The mechanism was represented in equations as follows [36].
ROH B RO BH

R1COOCH2 R1COOCH2
R1COOCH2
OR R2COOCH
R2COOCH R2COOCH
OR OR
H2C O C R3 H2C O C R3
H2COCR3
O O
O

R1COOCH2 R1COOCH2
BH
R2COOCH R2COOCH ROOCR3

H2C OH H2 C O
Scheme 2. Mechanism of transesterification reaction
D. Transesterification setup
Take 1ltr of mixed oil in a three neck flask with reflux condenser, heat the oil up to 60-65°C. After heating the oil
add methanol and catalyst. The methanol to oil molar ratio is 6:1 and 1% of potassium hydroxide is to be added to
oil in case of homogeneous catalyst. The methanol to oil molar ratio is 6:1 and 2% of Trisodium phosphate is to be
added to oil in case of heterogeneous catalyst. Run the process for about 90 minutes. Transfer that oil into separating
funnel and allow it to settle into different layers for about 8-16 hours. Then two layers will be formed in case of
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 Journal of Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Management (JoRSTEM)
ISSN: 2456-0197

homogeneous catalyst as shown in figure-2 below, upper layer is biodiesel and lower layer is glycerin. Separate the
glycerin from biodiesel. Three layers will be formed in case of heterogeneous catalyst as shown in figure-3 below.

Biodiesel

Glycerin

Catalyst

Fig. 2 Settling in separating funnel using KOH catalyst Fig. 3 Settling in separating funnel using Na3PO4 catalyst

E. Washing and Drying

This is done only in homogeneous catalyst biodiesel production method. Washing is a process of removing the
excess basicity or acidity, soaps, entrained glycerol and excess methanol. The biodiesel obtained after
transesterification is washed until the biodiesel layer had a pH of similar to the pH of distilled water. After washing,
the biodiesel is heated above 100oC for about 30min to remove water content in it. This process is called Drying.
F. Decalcification
This is done only in heterogeneous catalyst biodiesel production method. It is the process of removal of calcium
content from the biodiesel. It is carried out by the complexing agent such as Citric acid or EDTA (Ethylene Di-
amine tetra-acetic acid). This complexing agent can absorb the catalyst content from the biodiesel. It can also use to
absorb the impurities from the biodiesel. Obtained biodiesel from transesterification process contains methanol and
some amount of catalyst. The methanol from the biodiesel can be recovered from distillation setup. After that we
can add 8 ml of Citric acid for 1litre of biodiesel during decalcification process. The complexing agent with catalyst
powder is collected at the bottom by giving pure biodiesel.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Percentage yield of biodiesel
The percentage yield of biodiesels by using homogeneous catalyst (KOH) and heterogeneous catalyst (Na3PO4)
are shown in graph-1.

using KOH Karanja Biodiesel

using Na3PO4 6 Scum Biodiesel
100 Mixed oil Biodiesel

5
80
Kinematic viscosity (Cst)

4
Percentage yield

60
3

40
2

20
1

0 0
Karanja Scum Mixed oil Homogeneous catalyst Heterogeneous catalyst

Type of oil Type of catalyst

Graph 1 Percentage yield of biodiesel obtained using different Graph 2 Kinematic viscosity of biodiesels
catalyst

The percentage yield of Karanja biodiesel, Scum biodiesel and Mixed oil biodiesel is found to be 95%, 93% and
94% respectively by using homogeneous catalyst (KOH) and 97%, 96% and 98% respectively by using
heterogeneous catalyst (Na3PO4). Hence the above graph shows that the maximum yield of biodiesel can be
obtained by using Na3PO4 than KOH.
B. Kinematic viscosity
Higher viscosity causes poor fuel atomization during spray and affects the start of injection, injection pressure
and the fuel spray characteristics, which are the main parameters that affect engine performance and exhaust
emissions. The kinematic viscosity of various biodiesels produced using homogeneous catalyst (KOH) and
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 Journal of Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Management (JoRSTEM)
ISSN: 2456-0197

heterogeneous catalyst (Na3PO4) are shown in graph-2. The viscosity of biodiesels produced using heterogeneous
catalyst is more than biodiesels produced from homogeneous catalyst. The kinematic viscosity of Karanja biodiesel
produced from both catalyst is more than scum biodiesel. But the kinematic viscosity of karanja biodiesel can be
reduced by mixing karanja oil with scum oil. The kinematic viscosity of various biodiesels are in the range of
ASTM standards (1.9-6.0) but more than that of diesel which is 2.54Cst. Hence the biodiesels can be used as blends
with diesel with suitable proportions.
C. Flash point
The flash point of the biodiesel is also important parameter to be considered because it makes the biodiesel safer
regarding the storage and transport. The flash point of various biodiesels produced using homogeneous catalyst
(KOH) and heterogeneous catalyst (Na3PO4) are shown in graph-3. The flash point of biodiesels produced using
heterogeneous catalyst is more than that of biodiesels produced from homogeneous catalyst. The flash point of
Karanja and mixed oil biodiesels are in the range of ASTM standards (>130 OC) but flash point of Scum biodiesel is
less than ASTM standard range. Hence the flash point of Scum biodiesel can be increased to required range by
mixing Scum oil with Karanja oil. The flash point of diesel is 54°C. It shows the flash point of biodiesels that are
produced from both catalyst is more than diesel hence safer for transport.
D. Density
The density of the diesel fuel is also a very important parameter, since other crucial performance parameters of
engine such as cetane number and heating value have been correlated against it. The variation of density affects the
power and the fuel spray characteristics during fuel injection and combustion in cylinder. The value of density
depends on the triglyceride molecules present and higher molecular weights. The density of various biodiesels
produced using homogeneous catalyst (KOH) and heterogeneous catalyst (Na3PO4) are shown in graph-4.

Karanaja Biodiesel Karanja Biodiesel

Scum Biodiesel Scum Biodiesel
180 Mixed oil Biodiesel
Mixed oil Biodiesel
160
800
140

120
Flash Point ( C)

600
O

Density (Kg m )
-3

100

80
400

60

40
200

20

0 0
Homogeneous catalyst Na3PO4 catalyst Homogeneous catalyst Heterogeneous catalyst
Type of catalyst Type of catalyst

Graph 3 Flash point of biodiesels Graph 4 Density of biodiesels

The density of biodiesels produced using heterogeneous catalyst is more than that of biodiesels produced from
homogeneous catalyst. The density of obtained biodiesels are in the range of ASTM standards (860-900 Kg/m3).
The density of diesel is 816 Kg/m3. Since the density of biodiesels obtained is more than diesel, the biodiesels are
blended in suitable proportions with diesel.
IV. CONCLUSION
 The present work shows that both Potassium hydroxide and Trisodium phosphate are suitable catalysts for
production of biodiesel. Trisodium phosphate can be recovered and it can be reused.
 The percentage yield of biodiesels obtained by using Trisodium phosphate is more than Potassium hydroxide.
 The fuel properties (kinematic viscosity, flash point and density) of Karanja biodiesel is more compared to
Scum biodiesel and Mixed oil biodiesel.
 The flash point of each biodiesel is higher, hence it is safer for fuel transportation.
 The fuel properties (kinematic viscosity, flash point and density) of each biodiesel that are produced is very
high compared to diesel. Hence these biodiesels can be used as blends with diesel with suitable proportions to
achieve CI engine specification range.

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 Journal of Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Management (JoRSTEM)
ISSN: 2456-0197

V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank the Bioenergy research Information & Demonstration Centre, SIT, Tumakuru-03 Karnataka, India for
providing necessary experimental setup to perform this research. We also thank Bangalore Test House, KSSIDC
Industrial Estate, Rajajinagar, Bangalore - 560044, India.
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