Production of biodiesel from waste cooking oil utilizing zinc oxide nanoparticles combined with tungsto phosphoric acid as a catalyst and its performance on a CI engine

The present study used Zinc oxide nanoparticles mixed with Tungsto phosphoric acid (TPA) as a catalyst for the preparation of biodiesel from waste cooking oil. 10 wt% of Zinc oxide nanoparticles with 90 wt% of TPA is used in this study. The transesterification reaction parameters were optimized based on the trials performed. The optimum reaction parameters are 1:6 methanol to oil ratio at 60 degrees C to 65 degrees C and catalyst addition of 4 wt%, which gave a maximum ester conversion of 94 %. The properties of the synthesized biodiesel were compared to the ASTM standards and most of the properties met the specifications and requirements. Synthesized biodiesel is used as a blend of B10, B20 and B100 for engine testing and analysis. The performance characteristics show that the solid acid catalyst blends of transesterified biodiesel have performed better than any other fuel. Carbon emissions are low compared to diesel, the CO and HC emission of diesel is very high. In contrast to this result the NOx emissions are high for biodiesel blends.