International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.

61 (2015)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

KF/CaO Nanocatalyst for the Production of

Biodiesel from Animal Fat Through Single-Step
Process
B.Vijaya Kumar K. Ramesh,
Department of Petrochemical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
RVS College Engineering and Technology, Government College of Technology,
Coimbatore, India. Coimbatore, India.

P. Sivakumar, M. Vishnupriya,
Department of Petrochemical Engineering, Department of Environmental Engineering,
RVS College Engineering and Technology, Park College of Technology,
Coimbatore, India Coimbatore, India

Abstract--In this present study, the animal fat has been taken as operation. But the problem occurs during the separation of the
a feedstock for the biodiesel production using KF/CaO nanocatalyst. mixtures related to the reuse of catalyst after filtration through
It was carried out through single-step transesterification process. the membrane [3]. To avoid such problems, the better choice to
The effects of methanol to oil molar ratio, reaction temperature, use nano based catalyst for the transesterification process,
nanocatalyst quantity and reaction time were investigated. It was which provides higher catalytic activity, easier to separate and
found that the biodiesel achieved an optimum yield of 97% at the reusable, simple operational procedures, and regenerates of less
following reaction conditions; molar ratio of methanol/oil; 10:1, pollution. Therefore, only few have been reported by the use of
catalyst concentration; 5.0 wt. % and reaction temperature; 60 °C. nanocatalyst for the transesterification process. S. Hu et al
The results showed that the biodiesel experienced a higher but much
(2011), used nanomagnetic catalyst (KF/CaO–Fe3O4) for the
narrower boiling range than conventional diesel. The use of
nanocatalyzed production of biodiesel has given as a possible route,
transesterification of Stillingia oil with methanol [1]. L. Wen et
as it is environmentally benign needs no water washing and product al (2010) used nanocatalyst (KF/CaO) for the
separation is much easier. The quality of biodiesel which was transesterification of palm oil with methanol [4].
obtained from waste tallow had the recommended fuel properties as The scope of the study is to use the waste beef tallow which
per ASTM standard. are brought from the slaughter houses around the city and has
been used for the biodiesel production through the process of
Keywords—Nanocatalyst;Transesterification;Biodiesel;
transesterification with nanocatalyst (KF/CaO) [5]. The
Methanol
influence of various factors on the biodiesel yield was also
I. INTRODUCTION investigation.
Due to the rapid increasing growth of population and the II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
decreasing in unavailability of fossil fuels around the globe,
there is a great demand for alternative renewable fuel [1]. Bio A. Feed Stocks
diesel is a renewable, nontoxic, biodegradable and environment Waste beef tallow which were bought from the various
friendly fuel, which are produced by the process of slaughter houses of Chennai. Beef tallow were melted by
transesterification using vegetable oil or animal fat. slowly heating up to 65°C and were then filtered, centrifuged
Conventionally, transesterification were carried out by either and decanted in order to remove the waxy materials and other
base, acid or enzyme catalyst [2]. Base catalysts include suspended matters and residues [7]. Then the processed beef
homogeneous base catalyst and heterogeneous base catalyst. tallow was stored in air tight opaque plastic jars to prevent
Most of the current commercial processes for the synthesis of oxidation. Nanocatalyst (KF/CaO) and methanol of higher
biodiesel are widely used by homogeneous catalyst, such as analytical grade reagent were bought from Sri Sasthaa
NaOH or KOH. However, the several drawbacks have been Scientific Company, Coimbatore.
identified by the use of homogeneous base catalyst, such as the
separation of catalyst and require a large volume of water for B. Transesterification Procedure
the purification of the product. Therefore, for the development The production of fatty acid methyl esters from beef tallow
of benign process and the reduction of production cost, a new were carried out by transesterification catalyzed by
process using heterogeneous catalyst must be introduced. nanocatalyst (KF/CaO) through single-step process. The
experiment was carried out in a 100 mL glass reactor equipped
The purpose to choose heterogeneous catalyst compared to with a condenser and a mechanical stirrer. In this reaction, 5 g
homogeneous catalyst is that, heterogeneous based catalyst can of beef tallow oil was added into a mixture of 1.0 g of
be easily recoverable and recyclable, have less corrosive nanocatalyst (KF/CaO) and 150 mL of anhydrous methanol
nature, leading to safer, cheaper more environment-friendly [6]. The mixture was refluxed at 65 °C, with mechanical

422
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.61 (2015)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm
stirring for 1 h, cooled and distilled to remove excess methanol. C. Effect of Methanol to Oil Ratio
After the mixture is cooled, the mixture was poured into a The effect of methanol to oil ratio is one of the most
separating funnel and it is kept undisturbed for 24 h. Through important factor affecting the yield of biodiesel. When the
gravity separation the mixture (biodiesel and glycerol) were amount of methanol is increased with respect to oil the yield
separated. The upper oil layer (biodiesel) was washed with hot also increases. This is due to shifting of equilibrium towards
water (50 °C) until the washing was neutral. Biodiesel yield the product side.
(wt.%) relative to the weight of tallow was estimated.
IV. CONCLUSION
III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The nanocatalyst KF/CaO can be used for biodiesel
The effect of different process parameters such as molar production which yields higher product. When the reaction is
ratio of methanol to oil, reaction temperature, catalyst quantity, carried out at 60 °C with a methanol/ oil molar ratio of 10:1
and reaction time on biodiesel yield was evaluated and and a catalyst concentration of 5 wt%, the biodiesel yield
presented below. exceeds 96% at 24 h of reaction time. The nanocatalyst is well
A. Effect of Reaction Temperature used to convert the oil with higher acid value into biodiesel.
The nanocatalyst is able to be reused up to 10 times without
The effect on reaction temperature on the yield of biodiesel much deterioration in its activity, which increase catalytic
when methanol:oil ratio, 10:1 in the presence of 5 wt% activity and stability. The high specific surface area and large
KF/CaO [7]. On increasing the temperature from 30 °C to 55 pore size are favorable for contact between catalyst and
°C, the yield of biodiesel gets increased. However, around 60 substrates, which effectively improved efficiency of
°C conversion was increasing constantly. At higher transesterification.
temperature the yield will be increased because of the
increasing in transesterification reaction [8]. REFERENCES
[1] S. Hu, Y. Guan, Y. Wang and H. Han “Nano-magnetic catalyst
100 KF/CaO– Fe3O4 for biodiesel production,” Appl. Energy, vol. 88, pp.
90 2685-2690, 2011.
80 [2] F. Qiu, Y. Li, D. Yang, I. Li and P. Sun, “Heterogeneous solid base
Yield wt%

70 nanocatalyst: Preparation, characterization and application in biodiesel

production,” Bioresour. Technol., vol. 102, pp. 4150-4156, 2011.
60 [3] X. Liu, H. He, Y. Wang, S. Zhu and X. Piao, “Transesterification of
50 soybean oil to biodiesel using CaO as a solid base catalyst,” Fuel, vol.
40 87, pp. 216-221, 2008.
30 [4] L. Wen, Y. Wang, D. Lu, S. Hu and H. Han, “Preparation of KF/CaO
nanocatalyst and its application in biodiesel production from Chinese
20 tallow seed oil,” Fuel, vol. 89, pp. 2267-2271, 2010.
25 35 45 55 65 [5] R. Madhuvilakku and S. Piraman, “ Biodiesel synthesis by TiO2–ZnO
mixed oxide nanocatalyst catalyzed palm oil transesterification process,”
Temperature C Bioresour. Technol., vol. 150, pp. 55-59, 2013.
[6] S. Semwal, A.K. Arora, R.P. Badoni and D.K. Tuli, “Biodiesel
Fig.1. Effect of temperature on the yield of biodiesel produced from beef production using heterogeneous catalysts,” Bioresour. Technol., vol.
tallow at 5wt% catalyst. 102, pp. 2151-2161, 2011.
[7] H.N. Bhatti, M.A Hanif, M. Qasim and A. Rehman, “Biodiesel
B. Effect of Catalyst Concentration production from waste tallow,” Fuel, vol. 87, pp. 2961-2966, 2008.
The effect of biodiesel yield at different catalyst loading [8] A.N. Phan and T.M. Phan, “Biodiesel production from waste cooking
oils,” Fuel, vol. 87, pp. 3490 – 3496, 2008.
was carried out successfully. On increasing the concentration
of the catalyst the yield gets increased. This shows that the
nanocatalyst can be used for the production of biodiesel.

99

95
Yield wt%

91

87

83

79

75
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Catalyst wt%
Fig. 2. Effect of catalyst on biodiesel yield

423
International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.61 (2015)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

424