Production of Biodiesel from Waste Cooking Oil using Sugarcane Bagasse Derived Acid Activated Catalyst and Microwave as Heating Source

Abstract

The production of biodiesel is getting more interest every day because of the increasing prices
of petro-diesel, depletion of fossil fuels and the continuous requirement of energy. Therefore, there is a need
to produce an alternative fuel which should be economical and environment friendly. In this work, a costeffective
and environmentally feasible acid catalyst is synthesized from sugarcane bagasse obtained after the
extraction of juice and used in biodiesel synthesis from waste cooking oil (WCO). Four partially carbonized
catalyst samples are prepared by varying the amount of acid. The successful activation of catalyst was
determined by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, surface morphology by Scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) and thermal stability by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The highest yield of
biodiesel was obtained by using 15:1 methanol: oil, 5wt.% catalyst after 10 minutes of reaction duration. The
results indicated that yield of biodiesel increases by increasing molar ratio of methanol to oil and reaction
duration up to an optimum value. It is also seen that the catalyst can be re-applied in the reaction for at least
four cycles for >80% biodiesel yield. The combustion characteristics of the synthesized biodiesel are
according to international biodiesel standards.