This research conducts a comprehensive simulation and optimisation of biodiesel production from waste cooking oil using DWSIM® software, involving acid pretreatment with sulphuric acid to lower free fatty acids and subsequent base-catalysed transesterification with potassium hydroxide. The study investigated various operational parameters, and their impacts on yield, exergetic efficiency, and exergy destruction, identifying optimal conditions that achieved a maximum yield of 90.85%. The investigation into thermodynamic principles provided valuable insights into system efficiency, revealing energy and exergy efficiencies of 92.97% and 91.02%, respectively. Furthermore, employing response surface methodology for optimisation revealed the ideal conditions, resulting in a yield of 92.88%.
Khan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.