Optimization of restaurant waste oil methyl ester yield

Biodiesel may be cost effective if produced from low cost oils (animal fats, restaurant waste oil and frying oil), which, however, contain high amount of free fatty acids (FFA). In the present study, different amounts of methanol (20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45%), catalyst concentrations (0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0 and 1.5 % NaOH), reaction temperature (30, 45 and 55 degrees C and different reaction times (60, 90 and 120 min) were selected for transesterification of restaurant waste oil in order to optimize experimental conditions for maximum biodiesel yield. Methyl ester yield (65.50-85.50 %) in the laboratory scale biodiesel reactor was obtained maximum (85.50 %) at the optimized process parameters such as methanol (35% by vol), NaOH (0.3 g), reaction temperature (55 degrees C and reaction time (90 min).