Production of Biodiesel by Transesterification Reaction of Waste Cooking Oil

Waste cooking oils are an agro-food waste with adverse effects on the health of living organisms and the environment. The main objective of this work is to valorize waste cooking oil for the synthesis and physicochemical characterization of biodiesel. The method used is based on the transesterification reaction of the oils using methanol and a basic homogeneous catalyst. In this study we employ waste from refined palm oil used for frying doughnuts. After optimization a reaction time of 2 hours, KOH catalyst, and a molar ratio of 9:1 were selected to obtain a good quality biodiesel. Physicochemical characterization was performed on the biodiesel to obtain its density, viscosity, calorific value, acid number, saponification index and IR spectral features. The analysis shows that the biodiesel obtained after transesterification has physicochemical characteristics similar to those of diesel and is consistent with American standards.