• International Journal of Technology (IJTech)
  • Vol 13, No 3 (2022)

Multifeedstock Biodiesel Production from a Blend of Five Oils through Transesterification with Variation of Moles Ratio of Oil: Methanol

Multifeedstock Biodiesel Production from a Blend of Five Oils through Transesterification with Variation of Moles Ratio of Oil: Methanol

Title: Multifeedstock Biodiesel Production from a Blend of Five Oils through Transesterification with Variation of Moles Ratio of Oil: Methanol
Yoyon Wahyono, Hadiyanto, Mochamad Arief Budihardjo, Yogi Hariyono, Rifqi Ahmad Baihaqi

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Cite this article as:
Wahyono, Y., Hadiyanto, Budihardjo, M.A., Hariyono, Y., Baihaqi, R.A., 2022. Multifeedstock Biodiesel Production from a Blend of Five Oils through Transesterification with Variation of Moles Ratio of Oil: Methanol. International Journal of Technology. Volume 13(3), pp. 606-618

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Yoyon Wahyono 1. Doctoral Program of Environmental Science, School of Postgraduate Studies, Diponegoro University, Jl. Imam Bardjo SH, Pleburan, Semarang, Central Java 50241, Indonesia 2. Center of Biomass and Ren
Hadiyanto 1. Doctoral Program of Environmental Science, School of Postgraduate Studies, Diponegoro University, Jl. Imam Bardjo SH, Pleburan, Semarang, Central Java 50241, Indonesia 2. Department of Chemical En
Mochamad Arief Budihardjo Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Diponegoro University, Jl. Prof. Soedharto, SH, Tembalang, Semarang, Central Java 50275, Indonesia
Yogi Hariyono Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Diponegoro University, Jl. Prof. Soedharto, SH, Tembalang, Semarang, Central Java 50275, Indonesia
Rifqi Ahmad Baihaqi Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Diponegoro University, Jl. Prof. Soedharto, SH, Tembalang, Semarang, Central Java 50275, Indonesia
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Abstract
Multifeedstock Biodiesel Production from a Blend of Five Oils through Transesterification with Variation of Moles Ratio of Oil: Methanol

This study was conducted to produce biodiesel from a mixture of 5 different oils i.e, palm oil, used cooking oil, soybean oil, canola oil, and sunflower oil, through transesterification under mole ratio variations of oil: methanol. The oils were mixed at a total volume of 300 mL with the same amount of each oil used. The transesterification of blended oils was conducted at 60°C for 1 h, and the mole ratios of oil: methanol were set to 1:3, 1:6, 1:9, 1:12, and 1:15. The results demonstrated that the mole ratios of 1:6 resulted in the highest yield of 92.99% with the conversion of 99.58% mass. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) results showed that all mole variations had a methyl ester percentage of more than 98% area. The FTIR analysis revealed peaks that indicated the presence of a methyl ester functional group and its long-chain (–R) for all variations. The methyl ester content, Density, acid value, and total glycerol test parameters were in accordance with the quality standards of ASTM D 6751, EN 14214, and SNI 7182–2015. Therefore, multi-feedstock biodiesel suitable for industrial-scale applications was successfully produced in this study.

Biodiesel; Moles; Multifeedstock; Production; Transesterification

Introduction

The development of renewable energy is supported by the Indonesia government. For instance, biofuel from palm oil is developed in compliance with Government Regulation No. 79, 2014 (Republic of Indonesia government, 2014), which stipulates that the national renewable energy consumption must increase to 23% of the total energy use by 2025. In 2020, the production of biodiesel B30 (30% biodiesel and 70% diesel) for consumption was initiated. Biodiesel production that relies on vegetable oil as the sole feedstock is disadvantageous and can result in shortages of vegetable oil (Hadiyanto et al., 2020). Many countries, including Indonesia, do not sufficiently produce vegetable oil to sustain its use   as a raw material for biodiesel production (Hadiyanto et al., 2018).

       In Indonesia, the palm oil industry promotes aggressive deforestation to clear land for oil palm plantations, leading to shortages of raw materials (Soraya et al., 2014; Siregar et al., 2015; Wahyono & Hadiyanto, 2019). Therefore, biodiesel production using raw materials from a mixture of several vegetable oils and used cooking oil can be valuable for countries such as Indonesia with an increasing demand for biodiesel (Hadiyanto et al., 2018; Hadiyanto et al., 2020). Biodiesel produced from multiple raw materials can be called multi-feedstock biodiesel (Flood et al., 2016; Hadiyanto et al., 2020). Furthermore, raw materials from vegetable oil and used cooking oil can be a solution to the scarcity of raw materials.

Numerous studies on biodiesel production have proposed blends of oils, such as on canola oil mixed with cooking oil (Issariyakul et al., 2008); castor oil mixed with soybean oil (Barbosa et al., 2010); soybean oil mixed with rapeseed oil (Qiu et al., 2011); soybean mixed with tallow and canola (Flood et al., 2016); non-edible oils mixed with castor seed oil and waste fish oil (Fadhil et al., 2017a); Calophyllum inophyllum mixed with Jatropha curcas and Pongamia pinnata (Miraculas et al., 2018); waste cooking oil mixed with castor oil (Hadiyanto et al., 2018); and Calophyllum inophyllum oil mixed with castor oil, palm oil, and waste cooking oil (Hadiyanto et al., 2020). These studies have high success rates in producing multi-feedstock biodiesel with methyl ester contents higher than 80% mass. However, further studies should be performed on multi-feedstock biodiesel production (Flood et al., 2016; Hadiyanto et al., 2018; Hadiyanto et al., 2020). Research on a mixture of palm oil, used cooking oil, soybean oil, canola oil, and sunflower oil has yet to be conducted. Palm oil (Saksono et al., 2019), used cooking oil (Yusuff et al., 2018; Ani et al., 2018), soybean oil (Qiu et al., 2011), canola oil (Flood et al., 2016), and sunflower oil (Salmasi et al., 2020) contain triglyceride compounds that can be reacted with methanol to produce methyl ester (biodiesel) and glycerol.   

High free fatty acids (FFA) and water content in used cooking oils (UCO) cannot be directly transesterified using an alkaline catalyst, which gives low yield and low quality of biodiesel. This is because the side saponification reaction consumes catalyst and generates soap which causes problems in producing high-quality biodiesel. Transesterification of used cooking oils with an alkaline catalyst can be done only when the FFA and water content have been removed through different pre-treatment processes (Canakci & Gerpen, 2001; Cvengros & Cvengrosova, 2004). Alternatively, the acid catalyst can be used instead to prevent the emergence of this saponification (Obibuzor et al., 2008). However, this approach requires a longer reaction time, a higher operating temperature, and an acid-resistible reactor. It is obvious that the exploitation of used cooking oils requires more sophisticated technology and a more complicated process, which increases the cost of the biodiesel production process (Issariyakul et al., 2008). A mixture of five raw materials, including four fresh vegetable oil and one used cooking oil, provides benefits. Adding fresh vegetable oil to used cooking oil would improve the yield and quality of biodiesel produced from direct alkali-catalyzed transesterification (Issariyakul et al., 2008). This study could provide an alternative means to make use of UCO for a low-cost biodiesel production process.  

    Methanol is an essential material in transesterification for biodiesel production. An environmental life cycle assessment study on biodiesel production has shown that methanol is one of the causes of the high environmental pollution of transesterification (Soraya et al., 2014; Siregar et al., 2015; Wahyono et al., 2020). Methanol is a volatile organic compound (VOC); as it evaporates into the atmosphere, it reacts with NOx, water vapor, and sunlight radiation, thereby forming photochemical oxidants (Zou et al., 2015; Wahyono et al., 2020). In Indonesia, the production of 1 ton of biodiesel from palm oil requires 1.28 tons of palm oil and 0.64 tons of methanol (Siregar et al., 2015). This is equivalent to using 15 moles of methanol. Meanwhile, the yield of biodiesel produced is 78% (Soraya et al., 2014). The use of methanol should be reduced to make biodiesel production more environmentally friendly. Methanol emissions can be reduced by producing biodiesel with low methanol moles, namely, 3 and 6 moles. Minimizing the use of methanol moles in the biodiesel production process is an effort to reduce the amount of methanol used in biodiesel production. The target is to obtain biodiesel with high yield and quality with a more environmentally friendly production process. Therefore, this study is expected to produce multi-feedstock biodiesel with a methyl ester content of >80% mass through transesterification with only 3 and 6 moles of methanol. This study was performed to produce multi-feedstock biodiesel from a mixture of five raw materials, namely, palm oil, used cooking oil, soybean oil, canola oil, and sunflower oil, through transesterification with various moles of methanol and quality testing. The quality test consisted of determining the Density, kinematic viscosity, acid value, saponification value, total glycerol, methyl ester content, and yield and included Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS).


Conclusion

    This study successfully produced multi-feedstock biodiesel from a mixture of five oils suitable for industrial-scale applications. All the testing parameters of methyl ester content, Density, acid value, and total glycerol in the multi-feedstock biodiesel met the quality standards of ASTM D 6751, EN 14214, and SNI 7182-2015. The multi-feedstock biodiesel of all the moles of methanol variations contained >98% mass of methyl ester. This study also found that 3 moles of methanol per mole of oil could be used to produce multi-feedstock biodiesel with a methyl ester content of 99.12% mass and 81.96% yield at a 1:3 ratio. Similarly, 6 moles of methanol per mole of oil could be utilized to obtain multi-feedstock biodiesel with a methyl ester content of 99.58% mass and 92.99% yield at a 1:6 ratio. Multifeedstock biodiesel at 1:3 and 1:6 could be an alternative that should be considered to reduce methanol use for industrial-scale biodiesel production. The ratio of 1:6 corresponded to the highest yield. GCMS results demonstrated that all mole variations had methyl ester percentages that exceeded 98% area. The methyl ester with the highest percentage in multifeedstock biodiesel was 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)-methyl ester. FTIR results revealed peaks that indicated the presence of a methyl ester functional group and its long-chain (–R). Therefore, this study produced multi-feedstock biodiesel that showed potential for industrial-scale applications. Future works should be done on the kinetics of the multi-feedstock biodiesel production. Actually, each oil has a different reaction time, and therefore the yield and conversion of biodiesel will be determined by each reaction of the oil. By evaluating each kinetic of oil, we will be able to decide on which oil is the most determinant in the process. Moreover, the stability of biodiesel will be affected by the storage period. Therefore, the stability test is also crucial for future studies.

Acknowledgement

    The authors would like to express their appreciation for the support in funding from the Ministry of Research and Technology/National Research and Innovation Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (RISTEK/BRIN) and the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia (KEMDIKBUD) through the Master’s Education toward Doctorate for Excellent Bachelor (PMDSU) program 2020 (Grant no. 647-01/UN7.6.1/PP/2020). This research was conducted and generously supported by the Center of Biomass and Renewable Energy (C-BIORE) research group of Diponegoro University. 

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