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Production of biodiesel from fish waste and characterization of produced

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Article  in  International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology · September 2017

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)
Volume 8, Issue 9, September 2017, pp. 01–06, Article ID: IJCIET_08_09_001
Available online at http://http://www.iaeme.com/ijciet/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=9
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL FROM FISH

WASTE AND CHARACTERIZATION OF
PRODUCED BIODIESEL
C R Girish
Chemical Engineering Department, Manipal Institute of Technology,
Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India

Mihir Mahesh Gambhir and Tejus Deshmukh

Chemical Engineering Department, Manipal Institute of Technology,
Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India

ABSTRACT
In recent years, the interest on biodiesel as an alternative source of petroleum
based fuel is increasing rapidly. Because it is renewable, biodegradable, nontoxic and
can solve the energy related problems, mainly reducing the emission of gases which
leads to global warming. In the present work, a new and environment friendly process
was studied for the production of biodiesel from fish waste. The fat was extracted from
fish waste by using water as the solvent at a temperature of 80oC and then
saponification was performed out to remove free fatty acids. The transesterification
was carried out by using methanol and potassium hydroxide as catalyst to convert fat
to biodiesel. The yield of biodiesel was obtained upto to 85%. The confirmation of
biodiesel was done by using Jan Warnquist or 3/27 test. The properties such as pour
point, cloud point, sulfur content, acid number and kinematic viscosity were evaluated.
The characterizations of the produced biodiesel showed that the biodiesel is of good
quality and it meets the ASTM standards.
Key words: Biodiesel, fish waste, transesterification, green process, fossil fuel.
Cite this Article: C R Girish, Mihir Mahesh Gambhir and Tejus Deshmukh,
Production of Biodiesel From Fish Waste and Characterization of Produced Biodiesel.
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(9), 2017, pp. 01–06.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=9

1. INTRODUCTION
In the recent time, because of the increasing population and rapid industrialization the
consumption of fossil fuel based oils have increased. The demand for fossil fuels in sectors
such as heat and power generation in continuously threatening global energy sustainability.
Also the introduction of internal combustion engine and transportation sector is leading to
exploitation of the petroleum reserves and are depleting at a faster rate. Moreover, the
combustion of fossil fuels results in polluting the environment. Thus, due to the reasons that

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 C R Girish, Mihir Mahesh Gambhir and Tejus Deshmukh

fossil fuels are reducing and its adverse environmental impacts, there is a need to search for
an important alternative energy source [1].
Therefore, world is faced with the challenge of solving the problem of fossil fuel shortage
and to bring down the cost of energy. Biomass is the only promising source for renewable
energy that addresses the issue of raising price for energy fuels in the market. Due to the
shortage of petroleum production from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC), intensive research for alternative source for biodiesel started [2]. It is considered as
an alternative fuel which solves the problem of environmental pollution and global energy
deficit [3]. It will also replace petro-diesel minimizing the pollutants released from the
combustion devices [4].
The potential sources for biodiesel production can be vegetable oil, animal oil, waste oil,
waste derived from plants and animals, also agricultural residues and municipal waste [5].
The recent studies carried out for the production of biodiesel are from vegetable oil, spent oil
and industrial oil. The biodiesel produced can be renewed once again, does not cause toxic
effects, it can be degraded easily, higher flash point and causes lesser pollution. The physical
and chemical properties of biodiesel are similar to that of diesel, which enables that biodiesel
can be blended with diesel oil and can be used for engines [6].
Fish waste is considered as one of the raw material for the production of biodiesel. Out of
the total quantity of fish produced, 60-70 % of them is being used for human consumption and
for the production of fishmeal and oil [7]. Because fish oil is considered to have high
medicinal uses [8]. Generally all the parts of fish are not eaten, some parts are discarded. The
parts such as backbone, skin, heads, tail and stomach are non-edible and considered waste.
It is found the literature that fish oil contains more than 60 different fatty acids. Among
which nearly 80-85% of these are grouped into four category of fatty acids such as (a) C14:0
and C16:0, (b) C16:1 and C18:1, (c) C20:1 and C22:1,and (d) C20:5, C22:5 and C22:6. Fish
oil is enriched with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which
represents more than 90% of all the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Currently fish oil is
potential feedstock for producing biodiesel, but the research on the biodiesel produced is
limited [9].
The study shows that the fish waste is found to have limited applications. The volume of
waste generated is around 50% of the total fish processes. The total oil content varies from
40% to 65%. [10] Therefore, there is a scope for the utilization of these fish waste to convert
it into biodiesel. It was reported in the literature that discarded fish waste can be converted
into valuable products like biodiesel, manure, biogas and for energy generation [11].
The bio waste can be made into bio-gas, bio-oil and bio-char through biochemical,
physical or chemical processes [12]. Bio-gas is produced by gasification, pyrolysis and
anaerobic digestion [13]. Bio-char is generated by employing partial gasification with steam
or CO2, pyrolysis or by chemical activation. Bio-oils are made through pyrolysis,
fermentation, hydrolysis, and extraction or conversion processes [14].
The bio based energy oil is produced by a simple reaction known as transesterification. In
this reaction naturally available oils and fats made up of triglycerides combines with alcohol
(i.e. methanol or ethanol) in the presence of a catalyst to produce biodiesel (mono alkyl esters
of fatty acids) [15].
Biodiesel is produced through a process known as transesterification, as represented in the
equation

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 Production of Biodiesel From Fish Waste and Characterization of Produced Biodiesel

↔ (1)
Therefore in the present work, the fish waste were collected as raw material for biodiesel
production and fish fat was extracted. The produced fat was subjected to saponification with
sodium hydroxide. Then it was subjected to transesterification by treating with potassium
hydroxide to form biodiesel. The purity and the confirmation test for biodiesel was carried
out. The properties of biodiesel are tested and compared with the ASTM standards.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1 Raw Materials
The fish processing waste used in this current study was collected from a local fish market in
Udupi. The less valuable edible parts of fish like heads, tails, fins, organs were taken as fish
waste and used for the production of biodiesel. The chemicals sodium hydroxide (Fischer
Scientific Limited), methanol (Hayman Speciality Products), potassium hydroxide (Merck
India Limited) were used for the experiments.

2.2. Extraction and Saponification

The fish waste was heated in a three neck round bottom flask by using water as a solvent to
extract the fish fat. It is heated in a heating mantle (Central Scientific Maxserve)
approximately at 80oC to one hour. Then it was decanted for 30 minutes to separate the fat
layer. The fat layer was once again subjected to decantation for complete separation process.
The extracted fat (10 ml) was mixed and stirred in an electronic shaker with appropriate
quantity of sodium hydroxide (25 ml) to undergo saponification reaction. Then the solution is
subjected to centrifugation in a centrifuge (Eppendorf 5430) at 3000 rpm for 15 minutes to
separate the saponified fat.

2.3. Transesterification
Potassium hydroxide (0.9775 g) was dissolved in a beaker containing 17.4 grams methanol
and agitated continuously in a magnetic stirrer (made of REMI 1MLH) till the potassium
hydroxide dissolves completely and forms potassium methoxide, a strong caustic. The above
formed potassium methoxide was mixed with 87.5 ml of the fish fat under agitation for 1
hour. Then the mixture was transferred to a separating funnel. The content were allowed to
settle down and the two distinct layers, top layer being bio-diesel and bottom layer that of
glycerol were separated. After separating the glycerol, methyl ester was washed twice with
1:1 volume of water for 1 hour to remove excess methanol.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. Total Quantity of Fat Obtained from the Experiment
The total quantity of fat extracted from the fish waste was 560.1 ml over a course of 85 trials
of experiment. Total purified oil (fat) obtained by combining with sodium hydroxide after the
saponification reaction was found to be 488.3 ml.

3.2. Confirmation Test for Bio-diesel (Jan Warnquist or 3/27 test)

The confirmation test was carried out to determine the degree to which the oil (triglyceride) is
converted into biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester). The degree of conversion is a significant
aspect in assessing the quality of biodiesel. The test is generally carried out in any ratio of 9
parts methanol to 1 part biodiesel (i.e. 25 ml of biodiesel was mixed with 225 ml methanol in
a volume ratio in a test tube). It can be observed in the next 30 minutes that no oily material

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 C R Girish, Mihir Mahesh Gambhir and Tejus Deshmukh

settles at the bottom of test tube showing formation of highly converted biodiesel [16]. Three
batches of experiment were conducted with the above procedure and all the time clear
solution was obtained.

3.3. Procedure to Calculate Yield of Biodiesel from Fish Oil

The yield of biodiesel can be determined by calculating the density of fish oil. The density
was calculated from the following procedure.
Weight of empty 250 ml cylindrical flask = 265.66 g
Volume of fish oil taken in the cylindrical flask = 100 ml
Weight of cylindrical flask with fish oil = 352.78 g
Weight of fish oil = 352.78 – 265.66 = 87.12g
The density of fish oil = 0.87 g/ml
Therefore, amount of fish oil taken =87 g
Amount of methanol = 20% of 87g (fish oil) = 17.4 g
Amount of potassium hydroxide = 1.42 g
After transesterification, amount of biodiesel produced = 74.82 g

Table 1 The quantity of glycerol and yield of biodiesel

Trial Fish Fat, g KOH, g Methanol, g Biodiesel, g Glycerol, g Yield of
Biodiesel (%)
1 87 1.42 17.4 74.82 12.18 86
2 87 1.42 17.4 74.06 12.94 85.12
3 87 1.42 17.4 73.81 13.19 84.83
4 87 1.42 17.4 71.19 15.81 81.82
5 87 1.42 17.4 76.98 10.02 88.48

Total amount of biodiesel produced = 370.86 g

Total amount of glycerol produced = 64.14 g
Total percent yield of biodiesel produced = 85.25%

3.4. Test for Checking the Purity of Bio-Diesel (Emulsification Test)

One part of biodiesel is combined with one part of water (50/50 proportion) and shaken
thoroughly. Then the resulting mixture separates very fast and the biodiesel layer appears
clearly and brightly on the top whereas the water phase appears clearly at the bottom. For the
produced biodiesel sample the above result was obtained.

3.5. Testing the Properties of Biodiesel and Comparison with the Petro-Diesel
The properties of biodiesel produced was evaluated by testing various paramers such as pour
point, cloud point, sulfur content, acid number and kinematic viscosity as per the ASTM
standards. The values were promising when compared with values of petrodiesel [17].
The comparison of fuel properties of biodiesel determined with ASTM D 6571 standards
are given in the table.

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 Production of Biodiesel From Fish Waste and Characterization of Produced Biodiesel

Table 2 The properties of biodiesel as per ASTM standards.

4. CONCLUSIONS
The present study discusses the production of fish oil biodiesel by alkaline catalysis with 5:1
molar ratio of methanol to oil at 60°C. Transesterification was carried out by using potassium
hydroxide as catalyst. The fish methyl ester was recovered was 74.82 gram from 87 g at the
following standard conditions. concentration of catalyst (Molar ratio of methanol to oil 5:1,
Reaction time 60 min, Catalyst concentration 1%, Reaction temperature 60 °C, Settling time
2.5 hour). Various fuel properties such as pour point, cloud point, sulfur content, acid number
and kinematic viscosity were determined. It was found that all the properties met the
specifications completely as per ASTM standard. Therefore, it can be concluded that
production of biodiesel from fish waste has shown promising potential. First It will contribute
to reducing environmental impacts, and it acts as a source of renewable energy to replace
diesel and other petroleum products.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology,
Bengaluru, India for financial support (40S_B_BE_029) to carry out this research work.

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