Production of Biodiesel from Non-edible Seed using Impregnated Catalyst of Calcium Oxide and Zinc Oxide

Abstract

The major part of all energy consumed worldwide comes from fossil sources. However, these soirees are limited and will be exhausted by the near future. Biodiesel (Methyl ester of fatty acid), and alternative diesel fuel, is made from renewable biological sources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. This study deals with the transesterification of Prosopis Africana seed oil wth heterogenoous catalyst using CaO loaded with ZnO as solid base catalyst. Four different parameters were optimised namely: methanol to oil ratio (5:1), Temperature (S0 °C), catalyse concentration (2.2 w%) and reaction time (60 min) to have high yield of biodiesel with 95% conversion rate. The fuel properties of the produced biodiesel were compared with ASTM and EN standards and they are all in conformity with the standards.