The Biodiesel Production Process from Vegetable Oil

Research has been conducted on the production of biodiesel from vegetable oil by means of the transesterification process. The vegetable oils used were palm oil and kapok oil. The experiments involved reacting the vegetable oil and methanol in a tank‐type reactor equipped with stirrer and temperature controller. The sodium hydroxide is used as the catalyst. The process conditions of the reaction, including the reaction time and reaction temperatures can be controlled independently. Reaction product was separated from the reactants and used as biodiesel fuel for diesel engine. Experimental results showed that the conversion of the triglycerides to methyl ester was affected by the process conditions. The transesterification processes with temperature of about 70d̀C, and methanol ratio to the triglyceride of about 5 times its stoichiometry, and the NaOH catalyst of 0.4 wt%, appear to be the acceptable process conditions for biodiesel process production from palm oil and kapok oil.