Sustainable Cities and Society 41 (2018) 220–226

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Sustainable Cities and Society

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Biodiesel production from waste cooking oil: An efficient technique to T

convert waste into biodiesel
⁎
Sahara, Sana Sadafb, , Javed Iqbala,c, Inam Ullahd, Haq Nawaz Bhattia, Shazia Nourene,
⁎
Habib-ur-Rehmanf, Jan Nisarg, Munawar Iqbalh,
a
Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
b
Bio-Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, Punjab Bio-Energy Institute, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
c
Energy Physics Laboratory, Punjab Bio-Energy Institute, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
d
Department of Chemistry, University of Sargodha, Lyallpur Campus, Faisalabad, Pakistan
e
Department of Chemistry, Government College Women University, Sialkot, Pakistan
f
Insect Biofuel Laboratory, Punjab Bio-Energy Institute, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
g
National Centre of Excellence in Physical Chemistry, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 25120, Pakistan
h
Department of Chemistry, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Biodiesel production from waste oils is an attractive option to produce biodiesel economically, but high free fatty
Waste cooking oil acids (FFA) in waste oils are a serious bottleneck for the process of transesterification. Present investigation deals
Biodiesel with the utilization of waste cooking oil (WCO) for the production of biodiesel. The acid value of WCO was
Pretreatment 5.5 mg KOH/g which indicated high FFA content. The WCO was subjected to esterification using different acid
Transesterification
catalysts (HCl, H2SO4 and H3PO4) and H2SO4 catalyzed reaction was found to be the most efficient since the FFA
GC analysis
reduced up to 88.8% at 60 °C with 1:2.5 methanol to oil molar ratio. Transesterification was done in the presence
of alkali catalyst (KOH) and Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) yield was 94% in the presence of 1% catalyst at
50 °C. The biodiesel was characterized based on acid value, saponification value, iodine value, cetane number,
specific gravity, viscosity, cloud point, pour point and calorific value. The Gas Chromatography (GC) analysis of
synthesized biodiesel was also performed. Base on ASTM standards, alkali catalyzed transesterification was an
efficient method to produce biodiesel form WCO. Results revealed that the waste cooking oils can be converted
into biodiesel as an energy source along with environmental pollution reduction.

1. Introduction
The energy demand is continuously increasing due to fast in-
dustrialization and metropolitan growth. The major energy resources
are petroleum, coal and natural gas and due the non-renewable nature,
these energy sources are decreasing day by day (Arshad et al., 2018).
Recently, the petroleum prices have been setting record high in the
history due to heavy dependence on petroleum as a major source of fuel
for transportation and electricity generation. On the other hand, the
exploitation of these conventional energy resources is also a reason of
global warming, which needs to be tackled by adopting alternative
energy sources (Canesin & Oliveria, 2014). Both energy and environ-
mental deterioration are serious crisis, which could possibly be reduced
by adopting alternative energy sources such as biofuels generation from
renewable sources as well as the adoption of sustainable and environ-
mental friendly methods for the generation of biodiesel (Asri & Sari,
2015; Asri, Sari, Poedjojono, & Suprapto, 2015; Haigh, Abidin, Saha, &
Vladisavljević, 2012; Hiwot, 2017; Noiroj, Intarapong,
Luengnaruemitchai, & Jai-In, 2009; Saifuddin, Raziah, & Farah, 2009;
Omar, Nordin, Mohamed, & Amin, 2009; Wang, Ou, Liu, Xue, & Tang,
2006).
Biofuels are very attractive option to overcome the energy crisis
since waste feedstock’s are available freely for the production of bio-
fuels (biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas etc) by different chemical and bio-
logical conversion technologies (Che, Sarantopoulos, Tsoutsos, &
Gekas, 2012; Wen, Jiang, & Zhang, 2009). The biofuel production is
increasing globally, which will grow in coming years due to continuous
dwindling of fossil fuel reserves (Yusuf, Kamarudin, & Yaakub, 2011).
Among different types of biofuels, biodiesel is getting more attraction in
view of properties and chemical nature, which can be used as blend
with diesel fuel (Nisar et al., 2018). To utilize the biodiesel as a fuel, no
engine modification is required for (Boon, Van Dijk, De Munck, & Van

⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: sana.sadaf@uaf.edu.pk (S. Sadaf), bosalvee@yahoo.com, munawar.iqbal@chem.uol.edu.pk (M. Iqbal).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.05.037
Received 18 December 2017; Received in revised form 22 May 2018; Accepted 22 May 2018
Available online 23 May 2018
2210-6707/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sahar et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 41 (2018) 220–226

Den Brink, 2011) and in contrast to conventional petroleum diesel, the
biodiesel is a clean, safe and non-hazardous due to its biodegradability,
renewable and carbon neutral nature (Dong, Zhu, & Dai, 2012; Roy,
Wang, & Alawi, 2014). Chemically, biodiesel is fatty acid methyl esters
(FAME), which can be synthesized by chemical reaction between al-
cohol and oil in presence of a suitable catalyst, and feedstock’s like
energy cops, animal fats, kitchen wastes, insects and microalgae can be
used for the production of biodiesel (Yaakob, Mohammad, Alherbawi,
Alam, & Sopian, 2013). To date, the major obstacle in the commer-
cialization of biodiesel is the cost of production. In this regard, the
exploitation of waste materials for the production of biodiesel might be
useful to reduce the feedstock cost, which makes the process econom-
ical. The WCO is a waste, which can be converted into biodiesel and this
will be helpful for the reduction of pollution since WCO is wasted into
the environment. Secondly, the conversion of WCO into biodiesel will
be a valuable addition of energy in existing energy grid (Arshad et al.,
2018; Tangy, Pulidindi, & Gedanken, 2016). Moreover, under the cur-
rent scenario of environmental pollution (Chham et al., 2018; Ghezali,
Mahdad-Benzerdjeb, Ameri, & Bouyakoub, 2018; Ibisi & Asoluka, 2018;
Mansouri et al., 2018; Mehta, Chandra, Mehta, & Maisuria, 2018;
Ramdani, Benouis, Lousdad, Hamou, & Boufadi, 2018), there is need to
adopt the clean and green processes as well as methodology. Various
researchers studied different feedstock in order to convert free fatty
acids (FFA) into methyl ester i.e., Che et al. (2012) used olive pomace
oil for the production of FAME BY acid esterification process using
sulfuric acid as a catalyst. They observed 50% reduction in FFA values
at low methanol to oil ratio and over 80% reduction for high methanol
to oil ratio. Similarly, Ouachab and Tsoutsos (2013) also studied the
transesterification of olive pomace oil and achieved the FAME yield of
97.8%. Chai, Tu, Lu, and Yang (2014) also converted vegetable in to
FAME and it was found that the 19.8:1 methanol to oil molar ratio
worked well only within the FFA range of 15–25%, while the suggested
5% sulfuric acid worked well only within the FFA range of 15–35%. The
FAME yields were 83.08%, 88%, 90%, 91.7%, 97.8% and 94% and
81.3% for the waste cooking oils using different catalyst (Table 1). So
far, these studies revealed that WCO can be converted into FAME (Asri
& Sari, 2015; Asri et al., 2015; Haigh et al., 2012; Noiroj et al., 2009;
Saifuddin et al., 2009; Omar et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2006). This
technique have been also employed for the production of biodiesel from
non-cooking oils i.e., Mumtaz et al. (2016) utilized Eruca sativa oil for
the production of biodiesel by Novozyme-435 lipase and Aspergillus
niger lipase catalyzed transesterification. The biodiesel production was
recorded 98.3% and 56.4% for oil catalyzed by Novozyme-435 and
Aspergillus niger lipase, respectively. Similarly, animal bones modified
with potassium hydroxide (KOH) as heterogeneous solid base catalyst
for transesterification of non-edible Jatropha oil was used and FAME
yield of 96.1% was achieved. Nisar et al. (2018) used Brassiceae family
plants oil for biodiesel production using chemical refining followed by
direct homogeneous alkali catalyzed transesterification and methyl
esters from Brassiceae family plants are acceptable biodiesel.
Waste cooking oil (WCO) is easily available from restaurants, ca-
feterias and household kitchens. Present research was focused on the
conversion of WCO into biodiesel. The high level FFAs in waste cooking
oils result in accelerating some undesirable side reactions during bio-
diesel production. Therefore, WCO was pretreated first with mineral
acids for reduction of FFAs and then subjected to transesterification in
the presence of base as a catalyst. The synthesized biodiesel was
characterized and compared with fuel standards.
2. Material and methods
The WCO was collected from student cafeteria in the PARS campus,
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Initially, the oil was filtered to
remove all the insoluble impurities and heated at 100 °C to remove
moisture. All the chemicals used were of analytical grade and pur-
chased from Sigma-Aldrich, except as noted otherwise.
2.1. Pretreatment of WCO
Pretreatment of WCO was done as reported elsewhere (Chai et al.,
2014). For treatment, three neck reactor (250 mL) equipped with reflux
condenser was used to avoid alcohol vaporization. The reaction con-
tains 50 mL WCO, 10 mL methanol and 0.2% acid catalyst. The reaction
mixture was fed into batch reactor and experiment was conducted at
50 °Cfor 6 h. Mineral acids (HCl, H2SO4 and H3PO4) were used for
pretreatment. After stipulated time period, the samples were withdrawn
and centrifuged. The methanol layer was drained off and the WCO was
collected and washed with deionized water three times. The water
content was removed by vacuum evaporation and the FFAs values were
determined. Influencing parameters (methanol to oil ratio, catalyst
dose, reaction time and temperature) were optimized and the FFA was
calculated using the relation shown in Eq. (1).
Ai −At
Free fatty acid conversion (%) = × 100
Ai (1)
Where, Ai and At, refer to the acidity (at zero and time t).
2.2. Trans-esterification of pretreated WCO
KOH was mixed with methanol in a three neck batch reactor
(250 mL) equipped with reflux condenser. The esterified oil was added
in batch reactor and the reaction mixture was heated at required

Table 1
Literature survey of different processes used for the conversion of oils into biodiesel.
S. No Feedstock Catalysts FAME Yield Ref.

1 Waste cooking oil CaO/KI/γ-Al2O3 83.08 % Asri et al. (2015)

2 = Lipase 88 % Saifuddin et al. (2009)
3 = H2SO4 90% Wang et al. (2006)
4 = KOH/Al2O3 91.7% Noiroj et al. (2009)
5 = CaO/KI/γ-Al2O3 83% Asri and Sari (2015)
6 = Acid-based catalyst 97.8% Ouachab and Tsoutsos (2013)
7 = Purolite D5081 94% Haigh et al. (2012)
8 = Novozyme 435 90% Haigh et al. (2012)
9 = H2SO4 80% FFA reduction Che et al. (2012)
10 = Ferric suphate + acid catalyzed 81.3% Omar et al., 2009
11 = Acid catalyzed FFA reduction Chai et al. (2014)
12 = KOH 94% Present study
Non cooking oil Novozyme-435 98.3% Mumtaz et al. (2016)
13 = Aspergillus niger 56.4% Mumtaz et al. (2016)
14 = KOH/calcined waste animal bones 96.1% Nisar et al., 2017
15 = Acid 96% Kombe et al. (2012)
16 = Caustic 94% Kombe et al. (2012)

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Sahar et al.
temperature with constant stirring for 1 h. Influencing parameters like
methanol to oil ratio, catalyst dose, temperature and reaction time were
optimized for biodiesel production process. Then, the reaction mixture
was transferred to a separating funnel and mixture was separated into
glycerol and biodiesel. After draining off the glycerol, the biodiesel was
washed many times with 1:1 volume of water to remove excess me-
thanol and catalyst. The biodiesel was then centrifuged at 4000 rpm for
10 min at room temperature and subjected to analysis (Anitha, 2012).
2.3. Biodiesel analysis
The solubility of biodiesel was checked in methanol. This test is
used to evaluate the conversion of oil into diesel as the methyl esters
(biodiesel) are soluble in methanol and triglycerides (animal and ve-
getable oils and fats) are not soluble in methanol (Al-Hamamre &
Yamin, 2014; Lotero et al., 2005). The methanol was added in the
biodiesel layer and shaken for 45 min and then allowed to settle. The
unreacted oil settled down and biodiesel remains at the top. The un-
reacted oil was drained out and biodiesel is passed through the rotary
evaporator to remove the dissolved methanol and biodiesel yield was
calculated using relation shown in Eq. (2).
Amount of biodiesel produced
Yield (% ) = x 100
Amount of oil (2)
Specific gravity was determined using specific gravity meter (DA-
640 Kyoto Electronics Manufacturing C., Ltd). pH of the biodiesel was
determined by pH measuring strips. Oxygen bomb calorimeter was used
to determine the calorific value of biodiesel. The FAME composition
was determined by Gas Chromatograph equipped with FID. Nitrogen
was used as carrier gas. Initially, the oven temperature was set at 150 °C
for 15 min, and then increased to 220 °C at 10 °C/min. The injector
temperature was 250 °Cand detector temperatures was set at 300 °C.
Fatty acid peaks were identified by comparison to the retention times of
reference standards. For the determination of free fatty acid content,
0.5 g of biodiesel, 10 mL ethanol and 1–2 drops of phenolphthalein
were used as indicator. The mixture was titrated against 0.1 N NaOH
and change in color was noted. The FFA content was expressed g/100 g
as oleic acid and calculated as shown in Eq. (3). The acid value was
calculated using relation shown in Eq. (4).
28.2
FFA = v × N ×
w (3)
Acid value = FFA (%) × 1.989 (4)
For the determination of saponification value, the 0.5 g biodiesel
and 20 mL of 0.5 N alcoholic (ethanol) KOH was mixed. The mixture
placed in round bottom flask, refluxed and heated at 40 °C until clear
solution, an indicated of saponification reaction. After cooling the
contents, phenolphthalein was added as indicator and mixture was ti-
trated against 0.5 N HCl until the pink color disappeared. The saponi-
fication value was determined using relation shown in Eq. (5).
56.1
Saponification value = (B−S) × N ×
w (5)
Where, B and S are the blank and sample values (HCl), N is normality of
HCl and W is weight of biodiesel.
For the determination of iodine value, 0.1 g of biodiesel was mixed
with 20 mL of CCL4 and 25 mL Wijs reagent flask, shaken and placed
the flask in dark for 30 min. Then, 20 mL of 15% KI was added in re-
action mixture followed by the addition of 100 mL distilled water. The
contents were then titrated against 0.1 N Na2S2O3.5H2O using starch as
an indicator. Disappearance of yellow color indicated the end point.
Same procedure was repeated for blank except the addition of biodiesel
and iodine value was calculated using relation shown in Eq. (6).
Iodine value (IV) =
[(B−S) × N × 12.69]
w (6)
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Sustainable Cities and Society 41 (2018) 220–226
Where, B is the volume (mL) of 0.1 N Na2S2O3.5H2O for blank, S is
volume (ml) of 0.1 N Na2S2O3.5H2O for sample (S), N is normality of
Na2S2O3.5H2O solution and W is weight of biodiesel.
Cetane number was calculated using the relation shown in Eq. (7)
(Krishnangkura, 1989)
5458
Cetane Number = 46.3 + ⎛ ⎞−0.225 × IV
⎝ SV ⎠ (7)
Where, SV is the saponification value and IV is the iodine value.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Esterification conditions optimization
The initial FFA value of WCO was 5.5 mg KOH/g, which indicates
that the WCO was unsuitable for direct conversion into biodiesel using
alkali catalyzed transesterification reaction. Hence pretreatment of
WCO was done for the reduction of FFA contents and the FFA conver-
sion rection is shown in Eq. (8). So far, a suitable catalyst is required for
the reduction of FFA contents of the oil (Nisar et al., 2017, 2018). The
WCO was pretreated with mineral acids (HCl, H2SO4 and H3PO4) to
reduce the FFA contents. All the three acids showed good activity for
the reduction of FFAs. Maximum conversion of FFA (70.7%) was ob-
served in case of H2SO4 acid catalyzed reaction followed by the H3PO4
and HCl acids (60.1% and 52.7% respectively). These results in line
with previous studies that acid pretreatments are effective for the re-
duction of FFA of oil i.e., Ouachab and Tsoutsos (2013) pretreatment
olive pomace oil followed by alkali catalyzed transesterification and
vegetable oils were also pretreated with acid and caustic. In view of
significant reduction of FFA, the biodiesel yields were recorded up to
96% and 94% in acid and caustic pretreated oils, respectively (Kombe,
Temu, Rajabu, & Mrema, 2012).
R-COOH + R-OH → R-COO-R + H2O (8)
The process variables which seriously influence the esterification of
FFAs were optimized in this study. To check the influence of methanol
amount, the experiment was conducted by varying the methanol to oil
ratio from 1:10 to 1:2.5. The results indicated that as the methanol
amount was increased, the FFAs reduced significantly. Theoretically,
one mole of methanol is required for the esterification of one mole of
FFA, however, excess amount of methanol results in enhanced FFA
conversion. The FFAs conversion was increased to 80.2% from 42.2% as
the methanol ratio increased to 1:2.5 from 1:1 (Fig. 1a). The maximum
FFA conversion of 80.2% was achieved at methanol to oil ratio of 1:2.5
and these findings are in line with Ding, Xia, and Lu (2012).
Amount of catalyst is also an important influencing parameter in the
esterification process. To evaluate the effect of catalyst dose, the cata-
lyst amount was studied up to 1% (Fig. 1b). The dose of catalyst is the
volume fraction of oil in the reaction mixture. The results indicated that
in the absence of catalyst, the conversion of FFA to esters was insig-
nificant and the reaction mixture did not show any remarkable change
in the amount of amount of FFA after completion of esterification re-
action. Only 4.7% of FFA was esterified after 6 h without catalyst. The
addition of H2SO4 acid accelerated the FFA conversion process. The FFA
conversion was significant at higher dose of H2SO4. At 0.5% catalyst
dose, 76% of the FFAs were esterified and at 1% catalyst dose, the
conversion of FFA was 83.7%. Initially, the rate of esterification was
fast and with time the rate of reaction reduced and became constant
after extended period of time (up to 320 min). The effect of temperature
was also investigated on the esterification process by varying the
temperature (40–60 °C). The esterification process found to be highly
temperature dependent. The higher esterification of FFA was observed
at higher temperature and maximum esterification (88.8%) of FFA was
observed at 60 °C. These findings are in line with previous studies that
catalyst has significant effect on FFA esterification i.e., olive pomace oil
Sahar et al.
Fig. 1. (a) Effect of methanol to oil ratio on FFA conversion (50 °C; catalyst dose 0.5%) and (b) Effect of catalyst dose on FFA conversion (50 °C; methanol to oil ratio
2:2.5).
was treated with sulfuric acid and results revealed that FFA can be ef-
ficiently reduced with acid pretreatment (Che et al., 2012). Similarly,
the acid pretreatment of olive pomace oil for the production of biodiesel
was also promising (Ouachab & Tsoutsos, 2013). In another study, two-
step process was adopted for the production of WCO biodiesel. The acid
catalyzed pretreatment reduced the FFA of WCO significantly and re-
sultantly, the FAME yield was enhanced considerably (Omar et al.,
2009).
3.2. Biodiesel yield
For transesterification, KOH was used as a catalyst to convert WCO
into biodiesel. Important influencing parameters for transesterification
include methanol to oil ratio, catalyst dose, temperature and reaction
time were optimized.
The amount of methanol is an important influencing factor in the
process of transesterification (Omar et al., 2009). The effect of me-
thanol to oil ratio was studied in the range of 1:12 to 1:1 and results are
shown in Fig. 2a. The highest FAME yield was achieved at 1:3 methanol
to oil ratio. Further increase in methanol concentrations decreased the
FAME yield. The higher methanol to oil ratio might affect the solubility
of glycerin and resultantly, FAME yield was decreased (Encinar,
Gonzalez, & Rodriguez-Reinares, 2005). The catalyst dose effect was
also checked on FAME yield. The KOH concentration was checked in
the range of 0.5 to 2% of oil weight (Fig. 2b). Catalyst dose also affected
the FAME yield. By increasing the catalyst amount from 0.5% to 1%,
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Sustainable Cities and Society 41 (2018) 220–226
the FAME yield was enhanced (from 71% to 86%). However, further
increasing the catalyst dose to 2%, the FAME yield was not changed
significantly. It is reported that higher catalyst dose also favor the soap
formation in the reaction mixture, which might decrease the FAME
yield (Azeem et al., 2016).
The reaction time also affected the FAME yield and results are
shown in Fig. 2b. Initially, the transesterification process was fast and
slowed down at later stage. A reaction time of 50 min was found sui-
table for higher FAME yield and by increasing the reaction time, there
was no significant change in FAME yield.
Temperature effect on FAME yield was also studied in the range of
30 °C to 60 °C. Reaction temperature also affected the FAME yield.
FAME yield was increased from 80.4% to 94% as temperature was in-
creased from 30 °C to 60 °C.
3.3. Physico-chemical properties of biodiesel
The density of biodiesel significantly affects the engine performance
(Chhetri & Watts, 2008). The fuel density is effective in breaking up the
fuel spray from the injector. The density of biodiesel was found to be
0.874 g/cm3, which was within the range of fuel standard (ASTM
standard).
The drop formation of biodiesel and quality of fuel air mixture
combustion are dependent to the viscosity of fuel. Viscosity (very low/
high) is undesirable for the proper functioning of engine (Băţaga,
Burnete, & Barabás, 2003). Low viscosity leads to low penetration,
Sahar et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 41 (2018) 220–226

Fig. 2. (a) Effect of methanol to oil ratio on FAME yield (30 °C; catalyst dose 1%) and (b) Effect of catalyst dose on FAME yield (30 °C; methanol to oil ratio 1:03).

which results in the black smoke emission due to low combustion. A Table 2
very viscous fuel may penetrate to the opposite wall of the injector, Fuel properties of biodiesel produced from waste cooking oil (WCO).
results in cold cylinder surface and leads to the low in combustion of Properties Unit Biodiesel from WCO Biodiesel standards
fuel. The WCO biodiesel’s viscosity was found to be 5.83 mm2/s which
is within the standard range of 1.9–6.0 mm2/s (ASTM D6751-02, 2002). Specific gravity ———— 0.8743 0.86–0.9
Cloud point is defined as the temperature at which the crystals Viscosity mm2/s 5.83 1.9–6.0
Calorific value kJ/g 37.2 > 35
formation starts to form precipitate. The cloud point is the most com- Cloud point ᵒC 10.5 −3 to 12
monly used measure of low-temperature operability of the fuel. Below Pour point ᵒC 1 −15 to 10
the cloud point, the crystals might drop in the bottom of storage tank Acid value mg KOH/g 0.6 < 0.8
(Dwivedi & Sharma, 2016). So far, to run the engine below the cloud Saponification value mg KOH/g 280 < 312
Iodine value g I2/100 g oil 63.5 < 120
point of fuel, heating is necessary in order to avoid waxing of the fuel.
Cetane number —— 51.48 ≥ 47
The cloud point of biodiesel was found to be 10.5 °C, which is also
under the recommended limits of biodiesel standard. Both the cloud
point and pour points give indication of minimum temperature at was found to be 0.6 mg KOH/g which is in standard range of biodiesel
which the fuel can ignite efficiently. At cloud point, the fuel can be used according to ASTM standards (ASTM D6751-02, 2002). The acid value
in acceptable conditions, but at pour point the fuel cannot be used. The of biodiesel is dependent upon the purification procedure. It is observed
pour point of WCO biodiesel is found to be 1 °C which is within the that acid value becomes higher if hot distilled water is used for the
standard recommended range (Table 2). washing and purification.
The calorific value of biofuels is an important parameter for the The saponification value is the amount of KOH (mg) required to
comparison of fuel properties with that of petroleum diesel (Drenth, saponify specific amount of biodiesel. It is reported that the pretreat-
Olsen, & Denef, 2015). The low energy contents of the biofuels affect ment procedure of oil affects the saponification value (Predojevic &
the key performance parameters like maximum horsepower and torque Skrbic, 2009). The saponification value of WCO biodiesel was 280 mg
(Drenth, Olsen, Cabot, & Johnson, 2014). Calorific value of WCO bio- KOH/g which is within the standard range of biodiesel (< 320 mg
diesel was recorded to be 37.2 kJ/g, which is slightly lower than the KOH/g).
petroleum diesel (41.2 MJ/kg), however, this value is acceptable for Iodine value measures the amount of iodine in g absorbed by 100 g
smooth engine performance (Al-Hamamre & Yamin, 2014). oil. It is a measure of degree of unsaturation of biodiesel hence helpful
The acid value of synthesized WCO biodiesel was determined and it

224
Sahar et al.
to investigate the stability of oil. High degree of unsaturation results in
polymerization of fuel due to epoxide formation due to addition of
oxygen in double bonds. The iodine value of WCO biodiesel was 63.5 g
I2/100 g oil which was also within standard range of biodiesel.
The cetane number of biodiesel depends on the carbon number of
fuel and FAME concentration. The ignition quality of diesel depends on
cetane number. For biodiesel, the recommended range of cetane
number is 46–52 and 40–55 for conventional diesel. The cetane number
of WCO biodiesel was 51.48, which is within the recommended range
for biodiesel.
The composition of WCO biodiesel was determined by GC by using
FID detector. The methyl esters in WCO biodiesel were found to be of
oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2), palmitic acid (C16:0 and
stearic acid (C18:0).
The waste cooking oil is generated from the fried food. At high
temperatures the composition changes along with organoleptic prop-
erties which affect both the food and oil quality. Reuse of oil may be
harmful for because during recycling hazardous compounds are pro-
duced, which degrade the oil and food quality (Phan & Phan, 2008). So
far, the alkali catalyzed process is a viable technique to convert WCO
into biodiesel as and under the current issues of environmental pollu-
tion (Hiwot, 2017; Jafarinejad, 2017a, 2017b, Legrouri et al., 2017;
Majolagbe, Adeyi, Osibanjo, Adams, & Ojuri, 2017; Ogundipe &
Babarinde, 2017; Remya, Abitha, Rajput, Rane, & Dutta, 2017; Sasmaz,
Dogan, & Sasmaz, 2016; Sasmaz, Akgül, Yıldırım, & Sasmaz, 2016;
Sasmaz, Obek, & Sasmaz, 2016; Srikanth, Shyamala, & Rao, 2017;
Ukpaka & Izonowei, 2017; Ukpaka, Adaobi, & Ukpaka, 2017), there is a
need to adopt renewable energy sources and green technique for energy
generation.
4. Conclusions
The WCO was successfully converted into biodiesel production. The
FFAs of WCO were esterified using mineral acid pretreatment. Among
the different mineral acids, H2SO4 was found to be promising for the
efficient esterification of FFAs with 88% conversion efficiency. The acid
pretreated WCO was subjected to base catalyzed transesterification to
produce biodiesel. 94% FAME yield was achieved with 1:3 methanol to
oil ratio, 1% catalyst dose and 60 °C reaction temperature. The quality
of biodiesel was evaluated through various physico-chemical properties
and compared with ASTM standards for biodiesel. Oleic acid, linoleic
acid, palmitic acid and stearic acid were the main components of bio-
diesel produced. Results revealed that acid pretreatment followed by
base catalyzed reaction of WCO is viable process for biodiesel produc-
tion as well as utilization of waste oil to lessen the energy crises and
environmental pollution issues.
Acknowledgement
The authors are thankful to the Government of Punjab, Pakistan
(PC-22036-Development-Agriculture) for providing financial assistance
under project “Establishment of Punjab Bio-Energy Institute at UAF”.
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