2017 International Conference on Advances in Mechanical, Industrial, Automation and Management Systems (AMIAMS)

Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oil

Using Ultrasonic Cavitation & its Characteristics
Naveen Kumar Gupta*, Pushpendra Singh Rathore*
Mechanical Engineering Department
G.L.A. University Mathura, Mathura, India
Email: naveen_glau@yahoo.in

Shailendra Sinha*
Mechanical Engineering Department
IET Lucknow, Lucknow India
Email: ssinhaiet@gmail.com

Abstract - In the age of modernization, the demand of
energy is increasing day by day. Petroleum based fuel is
the main source of energy. Petroleum reserves are very
limited so alternative fuel like biodiesel, has great
prospects to be explored. Biodiesel is considered as best
substitute of diesel fuel. In present research article
waste cooking oil is used as a feedstock for the
production of biodiesel. Ultrasonic Cavitation technique
is used for biodiesel production. Parametric
optimization of biodiesel production using Taguchi
method has been done. Characterization of biodiesel
shows that biodiesel can be a good alternative of
petroleum-based fuel.
Keywords - Biodiesel, Waste cooking oil, Ultrasonic
cavitation
I. INTRODUCTION
In the age of modernization, the demand of energy
is increasing day by day. Petroleum based fuel is the
main source of energy. Petroleum reserves are very
limited so alternative fuel like biodiesel, has great
prospects to be explored. Biodiesel is considered as
best substitute of diesel fuel. Transesterification is the
process through which biodiesel is produced. In this
process triglycerides and alcohol, in presence of
catalyst reacts, to produce esters and glycerin [1].
Transesterification reaction takes place in three
steps.
 Triglycerides converted into diglycerides
and esters
 Diglycerides converted into monoglycerides
and esters
 Monoglycerides converted into glycerin and
esters
In all steps esters is obtained which is known as
biodiesel. Glycerin is a byproduct of this process. In
ultrasonic cavitation method, cavities are created by
ultrasonic reactor. These cavities disturb the phase
boundary of immiscible liquids due to which
transesterification reaction takes place in an
ultrasonic reactor. Bhake et al. [9] has investigated
that an ultrasonic reactor for biodiesel production
drastically reduces the reaction time, reaction
temperatures, and energy input.
II. METHODS AND MATERIALS
The biodiesel yield achieved by ultrasonic
cavitation process depends on the setting of the
control parameters such as power, molar ratio, pulse
frequency and reaction temperature during the
process.
The outset of the problem formulation is shown
in Fig.1, some parameters viz. catalyst % and
reaction time, have been fixed. Others viz. power,
molar ratio, pulse frequency and reaction temperature
are the design variables.
Fixed Parameters
Reaction Catalyst
Power
Molar ratio
Pulse Biodiesel Yield
Frequency
Temperature
(Design Variables)
Fig.1: Various design and fixed parameters.
The catalyst %, reaction temperature, type of alcohol
have been taken as fixed parameters. These values
have been decided on the basis of extensive
experiments and experience. The power, molar ratio,
pulse frequency and reaction temperature used have

978-1-5090-5674-3/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

139
2017 International Conference on Advances in Mechanical, Industrial, Automation and Management Systems (AMIAMS)

been taken as design variables. It is proposed to study III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
the effect of design variables on biodiesel produced. Biodiesel is produced through ultrasonic method.
The details regarding the fixed parameters and design Same amount of sample (100g) of waste cooking oil
variables are given below. has been taken for ultrasonic cavitation method.

TABLE I. LEVEL OF OPERATIONS PAREMETERS

Ultra Molar ratio Pulse Temperature
Factors sonic (B) frequency (D)
Power (C) C
Level (watt)
(A)
I 100 3:1 0.4 30
II 150 4.5:1 0.7 40
III 200 6:1 1.0 50

A. Level of parameters
It is planned to carry three levels
Fig.2: Ultrasonic horn type processor (TU-50)
experimentation. The values of the level of the
parameters are decided on the basis of the past
experience
The experimental plan is based on three level of TABLE II. ORTHOGONALITY EXPERIMENTS RESULTS
each factor viz. Ultrasonic power (100, 150 and 200
watt), molar ratio (3:1, 4.5:1 and 6:1) pulse frequency
(0.4, 0.7, 1.0) and Reaction temperature (30 C, Exp. N. A B C D Yield %
40 C, 50 C).
1 I I I I 66.75
2 I II II II 86.45
B. Selection of orthogonal array
3 I III III III 96.5
The degree of freedom (DOF) for a factor is equals to
one less than the number of levels. 4 II I II III 83.5
Total degree of freedom:
As the objective of this study is to understand the 5 II II III I 88.5
behavior of these three operating variables on 6 II III I II 94.2
biodiesel yield value and suggest the optimal value of
these variables so that maximum biodiesel yield is 7 III I III II 82.5
obtained. The biodiesel yield (%) corresponding to
each experiment are given in table 2. 8 III II I III 88.4
9 III III II I 93.45
C. 2.3. Reagents and materials used for experiment 780.25
1. Waste cooking oil (100g/sample) For calculation the (S/N) ratio i.e. signal to noise
2. Methyl alcohol (99% pure) for removing the ratio we will use higher the better type of response
free fatty acid from the oil. which is given as
3. Potassium hydroxide (85% pure) as catalyst. Higher is better:
r
(S/N)HB = -10 log [1/r ∑[(1/ yi2)] Equation (1)
i=1

r = No. of experiment

140
2017 International Conference on Advances in Mechanical, Industrial, Automation and Management Systems (AMIAMS)

yi = Value of ith experiment each factor due to its influence on the biodiesel yield
is found.
From the above table the value of Delta
TABLE III. S/N RATIO CALCULATIONS (Maximum - Minimum) corresponding to the factor
Exp. N. A B C D S/N Ratio (dB) (B) Molar Ratio represents the largest influence on
biodiesel yield followed by factor (D) Temperature,
1 1 1 1 1 36.48 factor (C) Pulse frequency, and factor(A) Ultrasonic
2 1 2 2 2 38.7 power.
(Molar Ratio > Temperature > Pulse frequency
3 1 3 3 3 39.6 > Ultrasonic power)
4 2 1 2 3 38.4 Process parameters setting with the highest (S/N)
ratio always yield the optimum quality with
5 2 2 3 1 38.9 minimum variance. So the optimum combination of
6 2 3 1 2 39.48 process parameter is A2B3C3D3.

7 3 1 3 2 38.3
8 3 2 1 3 38.92 B. Confirmation test:
Biodiesel yield%, at optimum combination of
9 3 3 2 1 39.41 process parameter is A2B3C3D3 is approximately
96.7%

A. Calculation for the mean (S/N) ratio

The S/N ratio for each parameter level is IV. PROPERTY TESTING:
calculated by averaging the S/N ratios obtained when After optimization of production parameters of
the parameter is maintained at that level. biodiesel we get the set of parameters at which the
(a) The mean S/N ratio of Ultrasonic power at level biodiesel yield % is maximum. Now we can proceed
1 is calculated as follows: for the bio diesel production at optimized parameters
nA1 = (n1+n2+n3) / 3 and some property testing is to be carried before the
production of biodiesel at large scale and engine
performance testing. We performed some tests for
TABLE IV. RESPONSE TABLE FOR NOISE TO SIGNAL RATIOS evaluating the following properties
Factors
(1) Density
Ultra Molar Pulse Temperature ( C) (2) Kinematic Viscosity
sonic Ratio Frequenc (3) Calorific Value
Power y
(watt)
Level
A B C D
1 38.26 37.72 38.29 38.26
2 38.92 38.84 38.83 38.82
3 38.87 39.49 38.93 38.97
Max.-
0.61 1.77 0.64 0.71
Min.(Delta)
Rank 4 1 3 2

The term Delta represents the maximum change in

the value of signal to noise ratio between the three
levels. The larger value of Delta represents the larger
Fig.3. Anton Paar Density Meter (DMA 4500)
influence on the biodiesel yield. Hence the rank of

141
2017 International Conference on Advances in Mechanical, Industrial, Automation and Management Systems (AMIAMS)

produced from WCO is very close the values of

biodiesel produced from other feedstocks and diesel
also.

V. Conclusions
Following conclusions has been made from the
experiments:
 Molar Ratio has the largest influence on
biodiesel yield followed by temperature,
pulse frequency, and ultrasonic power.
 (Molar Ratio > Temperature > Pulse
frequency > Ultrasonic power)
 Characterization of WCO biodiesel shows
that properties of biodiesel are very close to
Fig.4. Petrotest visco clock that of convention diesel. So WCO biodiesel
may be considered as an alternative fuel of
petroleum diesel.

VI. FUTURE SCOPE

There are certain reasons for encouraging the
development of biodiesel in future are:
1. For long term use of biodiesel in an engine,
maintenance schedule is to be investigated.
2. Viscosity for biodiesel is an issue, while
using in a diesel based engine and can be
reduced by increasing the injector pressure.
3. Further research in dynamic response of fuel
Fig.5. Bomb Calorimeter (Parr 6100 Calorimeter)
is required. As the biodiesel fuel has
excellent lubricating property, so either
TABLE V. COMPARISON OF BIODIESEL CHARACTERISTICS some modification is required in the fuel
RESULT injector of the engine or some additive
S. Fue Densit Kinematic Calorific value
should be search to make it easily viable for
N l y viscosity (MJ/Kg) a diesel based engine.
( (40 C)
40 C) (m2/sec) VII. REFERENCES
(Kg/m 1. Refaat AA, Attia NK, Sibak HA, El-Sheltawy ST, El-Diwani
3
) GI. Production optimization and quality assessment of biodiesel
1 Petroleum 780.86 2.0x1 43- from waste vegetable oil, Int. J. Environ. Sci. Tech. 5(1)
diesel 0 0-6- 47 December(2008) 75-82.
4.0x1 2. Eevera T, Rajendran K, Saradha S. Biodiesel production
process optimization and characterization to assess the
0-6 suitability of the product for varied environmental conditions,
Renewable Energy 34(3) March(2009) 762–765.
2 Biodiesel 860.90 4.0x1 40 3. Noiroj K, Intarapong P, Luengnaruemitchai A, Jai-In S. A
(From 0 0-6- comparative study of KOH/Al2O3 and KOH/NaY catalysts for
biodiesel production via transesterification from palm oil,
other 6.0x1 Renewable Energy 34(4) April(2009) 1145–1150.
feedstocks 0-6 4. Stavarache C, Vinatoru M, Nishimura R, Maeda Y. Fatty acids
) methyl esters from vegetable oil by means of ultrasonic energy,
Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 12(5) April(2005) 367–372.
3 Biodiesel 870 5.9x1 38.5 5. Hanh HD, Dong NT, Okitsu K, Maeda Y, Nishimura R. Effect
(From 0-6 5 of molar ratio, catalyst concentration and temperature on
WCO) transesterification of triolein with ethanol under ultrasonic
irradiation, Journal of Japan petroleum institute 50(4) (2007)
195-199.
6. Stavarache C, Vinatoru M, Maeda Y. Aspects of ultrasonically
Characterization of biodiesel shows that density, assisted transesterification of various vegetable oils with
Kinematic viscosity and calorific values of biodiesel

142
2017 International Conference on Advances in Mechanical, Industrial, Automation and Management Systems (AMIAMS)

methanol, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 14(3) March(2007) 380-

386.
7. Hanh HD, Dong NT, Okitsu K, Nishimura R, Maeda Y.
Biodiesel production by esterification of oleic acid with short-
chain alcohols under ultrasonic irradiation condition,
Renewable Energy 34(3) March(2009) 780–783.
8. Hanh HD, Dong NT, Okitsu K, Nishimura R, Maeda Y.
Biodiesel production through transesterification of triolein with
various alcohols in an ultrasonic field, Renewable Energy
34(3) March(2009) 766–768.
9. Bhake AB, Bankar SL, Shastri SS, Limaye NM. Aspects of
Ultrasonically assisted Transesterification of Vegetable Oils,
New Frontiers in Biofuels ID: 2010/NFIB/014 January(2010)
1-6.
10. Kelkar MA, Gogate PR, Pandit AB. Cavitation as a novel
tool for process intensification of biodiesel synthesis,
January (2007).
www.smallbusinessdevelopmentcenter.com/.../cavitation%20
process.pdf.
11. Ji J, Wang J, Li Y, Yu Y, Xu Z. Preparation of biodiesel
with the help of ultrasonic and hydrodynamic cavitation,
Ultrasonics 44(1) December(2006) e411–e414.
12. Sou A, Hosokawa S, Tomiyama A. Effects of cavitation in a
nozzle on liquid jet atomization, International Journal of Heat
and Mass Transfer 50 (17-18) March(2007) 3575–3582.
13. Pal A, Verma A, Kachhwaha SS, Maji S. Biodiesel
production through hydrodynamic cavitation and
performance testing, Renewable Energy 35(3) March(2010)
619–624.
14. Kusdiana D, Saka S. Kinetics of transesterification in
rapeseed oil to biodiesel fuel as treated in supercritical
methanol, Fuel 80(5) April(2001) 693-698.
15. Kusdiana D, Saka S. Biodiesel fuel for diesel fuel substitute
prepared by a catalyst-free supercritical methanol, Nihon
Enerugi Gakkai Taikai Koen Yoshishu, Accession
number:03A0008369, Journal Code:L3908A (2002) 186-
187.

143