Production and Characterization of Biodiesel (Methyl Ester) from Chicken Fat

Abstract

This paper examined the production of biodiesel from chicken fat (CF). The CF was first pretreated with 1% H2SO4 to reduce free fatty acid from 3.51 mg/KOH/g to 1.82 mg/KOH/g (< 1%) before tranesterification. The fat was transesterified with methanol in presence of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as catalyst in a laboratory batch reactor at a temperature of 60 0C, catalyst concentration of 0.8 % w/v and reaction time of 90 min. Standard fuel characterization (ASTM fuel tests) was carried out on the Chicken fat Methyl ester (CFME). Methyl ester yield of 96.7 % was obtained. Fuel properties of the CFME compare well with the ASTM and EN standards for biodiesel. The result suggests that the fuel can serve as an alternative to petroleum diesel.