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Procedia Engineering 53 (2013) 7 – 12

Malaysian Technical Universities Conference on Engineering & Technology 2012, MUCET 2012
Part 3 - Civil and Chemical Engineering

Characterization of Biodiesel Produced from Palm Oil via Base

Catalyzed Transesterification
Eman N. Alia,*, Cadence Isis Taya
a
Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, Gambang,
26300 Kuantan, Pahang Darul Makmur, Malaysia

Abstract

Biodiesel is a notable alternative to the widely used petroleum-derived diesel fuel since it can be generated by domestic
natural resources such as palm oil, soybeans, rapeseeds, coconuts and even recycled cooking oil. Interest in biodiesel has
been expanding recently due to government incentives and high petroleum prices. The majority of biodiesel today is
produced via base catalyzed transesterification with methanol. The crude palm oil is the raw material for this study In order
to find the optimum values of biodiesel (Palm oil Methyl Ester, POME) yield, three parameters were studied: reaction
temperature, reaction time and the methoxide:oil ratio. In this study, the parameters were: reaction temperature: 40, 50, and
60 °C; reaction time: 40, 60 and 80 minutes; and methoxide:oil ratio: 4:1, 6:1 and 8:1. The results showed that the optimum
reaction time was 60 minutes, reaction temperature was 60 °C and the methoxide:oil ratio was 6:1, were the optimum yield
of 88% was achieved. Testing and analysis was carried out to determine the physical properties of the product. The density
of POME is 876.0 kg/m3, kinematic viscosity of 4.76 mm2/s, cetane number of 62.8, flash point of 170 °C, cloud point of 13
°C, pour point of 17 °C, and saponification value of 206.95 mg/L. The produced biodiesel has similar properties of ASTM
D 6751, and EN 14214.

© 2013
© 2013TheTheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd.access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Ltd. Open
Selectionand
Selection and/or peer-review
peer-review under responsibility
under responsibility of theManagement
of the Research Research Management
& Innovation & Innovation
Centre, Centre,
Universiti Universiti Malaysia
Malaysia
Perlis.
Perlis
Keywords: Base catalyst; Biodiesel; Palm Oil Methyl Ester; Transesterification.

1. Introduction

The demand of energy has increased rapidly with growing of world population. The reserves of fossil fuel are being
depleted, while the environmental problems caused by their use have become serious. Thus, the renewable energy has been
promptly developed (Mori, 2009; Werther, 2009; and Manh et al., 2011). Amongst the various alternate fuels being
developed, the biodiesel has received special attention because it is easy to produce from readily available and renewable
sources (vegetable oils and animal fats), safe to handle and use, eco-friendly, and miscible with petroleum diesel in all
proportional for use in existing diesel engines without any modification (Tyagi et al., 2010).

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: eman@ump.edu.my

1877-7058 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Research Management & Innovation Centre, Universiti Malaysia Perlis
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2013.02.002
8 Eman N. Ali and Cadence Isis Tay / Procedia Engineering 53 (2013) 7 – 12

According to Singh & Singh (2009), there are several sources which are used as feed stock for biodiesel production
such as soybean, sunflower, palm, canola, cotton seed, Jathropa, rapeseed and soybean oil. However, compared with other
vegetable oil, palm oil has far better advantage and potential as feed stock for biodiesel production. Palm oil is a perennial
crop, unlike soybean and rapeseed. Perennial crop means the production of oil is continuous and uninterrupted, though
annual production has its seasonal peak and down cycle. Palm plantation has the highest oil yield in terms of oil production
per hectare of plantation. Palm oil has the highest yield hectare than any other crops as shown in Figure 1, and this makes it
the best source to produce biodiesel (Ong et al., 2011).

Productivity (liters/ha)
C. Inophyllum
Palm
11% Rapeseed
Sunflowerseed
23%
14% Soybean
2%
6% 29% Peanut
2% Cottonseed
6% 7% Coconut
Jathropa

Fig. 1. Production oil yield for various source biodiesel feed stocks

Yap et al., (2011) reported that transesterification or alcoholysis is the displacement of alcohol from an ester in a
process similar to hydrolysis, except that alcohol is used instead of water. The reaction is one of the reversible reactions and
proceeds essentially by mixing the reactants as presented by the following equation:

Oil or Fat + Methanol Methyl esters + Glycerol

Many studies have shown that transesterification with methanol is more practical than with ethanol. Methanol is
preferable because of its low cost and its physical and chemical advantages (Demirbas, 2005). Another advantage of using
methanol is the separation of glycerine, in which can be obtained through simple decantation (Nagi et al., 2008).
Currently, most biodiesel is produced by using homogenous base catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or
potassium hydroxide (KOH) (Felizardo et al., 2006). These catalysts are commonly used because of few reasons: able to
catalyze reaction at low reaction temperature and atmospheric pressure and high conversion can be achieved in a minimal
time (Lotero et al., 2005).

2. Material and Method

The production of biodiesel by transesterification of palm oil is carried out as follows:

1. Mixing of alcohol and catalyst

2. Reaction of alcohol/catalyst with palm oil
3. Separation of biodiesel and glycerol
4. Removal of alcohol
5. Methyl ester washing
6. Biodiesel drying

The materials used in this process are: Crude Palm Oil (CPO), which is contributed by Lepar Hilir 3 Palm Oil Mill, and
Dominion Square Palm Oil Mill/ Kuantan, Pahang; the catalyst is Potassium Hydroxide (KOH); Methanol (MeOH); and the
drying agent is Magnesium sulphate (MgSO4). The product is Methyl ester, and by-product is Glycerol.
 Eman N. Ali and Cadence Isis Tay / Procedia Engineering 53 (2013) 7 – 12 9

2.1 Sample preparation:

In order to have a 1.0 % concentration of KOH for every 50 mL of oil used, 0.5 gram of potassium hydroxide (KOH)
pellets were added to methanol to prepare the methoxide solution. Three sets of different ratios of methoxide:oil were
prepared. The ratios of methoxide:oil were:-

i. 4:1 (200 mL : 50 mL)

ii. 6:1 (300 mL : 50 mL)
iii. 8:1 (400 mL : 50 mL)

2.2 Methods

Magnesium sulphate was added to the raw CPO to remove any excess of water. The raw product was left for a day and
the excess water was filtered from the CPO. Table 1, shows the sets of parameters for experiments carried out in the lab.
A sample of 50 mL of oil was pre-heated at 60 °C on the hot plate. The oil and methoxide were transferred into the 2-
necked round-bottom glass flask according to the parameters selected in Table 1. As soon as the transesterification process
was completed, the mixture was poured into a separator funnel and left for 1 day for settling. Two layers were formed:
upper layer of palm oil methyl ester (POME) and lower layer of glycerol. The glycerol phase was separated; the methyl
ester biodiesel phase (top layer) is evaporated with a thermostatic bath or rotary evaporator at 65 °C to remove the excess
methanol (Miao et al., 2009). The products were washed several times with warm water to remove the catalyst and by
products from saponified reaction (Yusup & Khan, 2010). The final product was placed in a heated oven to remove excess
water and impurities.

TABLE 1: EXPERIMENTS AT DIFFERENT PARAMETERS

Ratio of Temperature time
(MetOH:oil) (°C) (min)
40
40 60
80
40
4:1 60 60
80
40
80 60
80
40
40 60
80
40
6:1 60 60
80
40
80 60
80
40
40 60
80
40
8:1 60 60
80
40
80 60
80

2.3 Product analysis

The biodiesel yield for each experiment is calculated as shown in Table 2. The optimum yield of 88% was selected and
the tests were carried out to measure the biodiesel physical properties (density, kinematic viscosity, cetane number, flash
point, cloud point, and saponification value).
10 Eman N. Ali and Cadence Isis Tay / Procedia Engineering 53 (2013) 7 – 12

3. Result and Discussion

3.1 Yield of POME

Based on the experiment, the optimum biodiesel yield was 88% at 60 °C, 60 minutes and ratio of methoxide:oil of 6:1.
The results are shown in Table 2, Figure2, Figure 3 and Figure 4. Figure 2, shows that as the time and methoxide:oil ratio
are increasing, the biodiesel yield is increasing until reaching the highest point. Same trend goes with Figure 3, which also
shows an increasing of biodiesel yield as the time and methoxide:oil ratio is increasing, because transesterification is the
process of exchanging ester alcohol. Therefore, it needs more time
and higher temperature ffor this replacement to take place.

Table 2. Biodiesel yields

Ratio Temp. time Volume Yield
(MetOH:oil) (°C) (min) (mL) (%)
40 5 10
40 60 21 42
80 24 48
40 20 40
4:1 50 60 28 56
80 38 76
40 32 64
60 60 35 70
80 39 78
40 9 18
40 60 23 45
80 30 60
40 24 48
6:1 50 60 35 70
80 40 80
40 35 60
60 60 44 88
80 43 86
40 11 22
40 60 28 56
80 29 58
40 28 55
8:1 50 60 37 74
80 40 82
40 29 58
60 60 43 86
80 41 88

Fig. 2. Yield vs. time at 40 °C

 Eman N. Ali and Cadence Isis Tay / Procedia Engineering 53 (2013) 7 – 12 11

Fig. 3. Yield vs. time at 50 °C

Meanwhile, Figure 4 shows different pattern from Figure 2 and 3. It is clear that by increasing the ratio, the yield will
be increased to 88% at ratio of 6:1 (methoxide:oil), and 60 min to 86% at ratio of 6:1 (methoxide:oil), and 80 min. This
means that increasing the time is not helping to get higher yield, which means no more orga can be exchanged
at these conditions. Since no improvement taking place by increasing the time, therefore, 88% yield is considered as the
optimum yield results.

Fig. 4. Yield vs. time at 60 °C

From Table 2, and Figures 2, 3, and 4, it can be concluded that the following parameters produce the optimum biodiesel
yield:

Mathoxide:oil Ratio, 6:1

Temperature, 60 °C
Time, 60 minutes

Therefore, the experiment was repeated by using these parameters to prepare 500 ml of the biodiesel to perform the tests

3.2 Physical Characteristics Tests

Tests were done on the sample prepared at optimum conditions. Table 3, shows the characteristics of the biodiesel
produced at 60 °C, 60 minutes and at ratio of methoxide:oil at 6:1. The physical properties analysed are: density, kinematic
viscosity, cetane number, flash point, cloud point, and saponification value.
12 Eman N. Ali and Cadence Isis Tay / Procedia Engineering 53 (2013) 7 – 12

Table 3. Physical properties of produced pome

Analysis POME ASTM EN 14214
D 6751
Density, kg/m3 876.0 870-900 860-900
Kinematic Viscosity, 4.76 1.9-6.0 3.5-5.0
mm2/s
Cetane number 62.8 >47 >51
Flash point, ºC 170 >130 >120
Cloud point, ºC 13 - -
Pour point, °C 17 - -
Saponification value 206.95 - -
(mg/L)

Table 3 shows that the properties of biodiesel produced (POME) are within the biodiesel American standards ASTM D
6751 and European Standards EN 14214

4. Conclusion

This study was carried out to produce biodiesel from palm oil by base-catalyzed transesterification and determining its
characteristics. This research was conducted by using CPO as raw material, methanol as alcohol and potassium hydroxide as
the catalyst. The alkali transesterification process was performed. Three parameters taken into consideration: methoxide:oil
ratio, temperature, and time. The optimum biodiesel yield from the research was 88% at methoxide:oil ratio of 6:1, reaction
for 60 minutes at temperature of 60 °C. And, the physical characteristics obtained from the final optimum biodiesel yield
were within ASTM D 6751 and European Standards EN 14214.

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