The Application of Calcium Oxide from Waste Cockle for Biodiesel Production from Used Cooking Oil via Microwave Heating System

Mahanum Mohd Zamberi; Farid Nasir Ani; Mohd Fadzli Abdollah

Authors

Mahanum Mohd Zamberi Department of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Farid Nasir Ani Department of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Mohd Fadzli Abdollah Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia

Keywords:

Biodiesel , heterogeneous catalyst, transesterification , microwave , non-edible oil

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to explore the heterogeneous catalytic performance of activated waste cockles derived CaO on the biodiesel production of used cooking oil via microwave heating system. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) method. The effects of reaction parameters such as reaction time, methanol to oil molar ratio, catalyst concentration, and microwave exit power on the yield of biodiesel were investigated. It is clearly observed that the catalyst activity still sustained up to three successive cycles. The fuel properties of the biodiesel produced were compared with the ASTM D6751 and were in accordance with the standard method. More than 95% yield concentration was recorded through the microwave irradiation method which shows that it can be employed as an energy source due to its ability in accelerating the transesterification process.