Abstract:
Declining global fossil fuel storage due to increasing consumption and associated environmental
pollution have created an urge for investigating the production of renewable and
environmentally friendly biofuel. Biodiesel can be considered as one of the most perspective
alternative fuels since it is a non-toxic and can be produced from different renewable sources
through simple cost-effective methods. The choice of a catalyst for the biodiesel
transesterification method primarily depends on the quantity of free fatty acid contents of raw
materials. This study was aimed to test the potential of biodiesel production from crude palm oil
by using base catalyst. Crude palm oil from Palm Oil factory of Watawala Plantation Ltd, Galle,
Sri Lanka was tested for free fatty acid (FFA) content. Crude palm oil was pre-treated with NaOH
as catalyst and 20% of anhydrous methanol amount according to oil volume was added for
transesterification. It was found that FFA value of the oil was 7 mg NaOH/g which is in favorable
limits for alkaline transesterification. The biodiesel yield was estimated as 80% of plant oil
through base catalyst transesterification. The produced palm oil methyl ester was characterized.
The properties were tested as gross calorific value 40.5 MJ/kg (ASTM D 240), density at 15°C of
878 kg/m3(ASTM D 1298), ash content 0.02% (ASTM D6751) and acid value 0.34mg NaOH/g (D
664). The production cost of biodiesel by base catalyst transesterification was estimated as 791
rupees per liter. All the tested parameters were within the accepted limits of the biodiesel
standards thus making it an alternate fuel for compression ignition engines.
