Biodiesel production from goat fat using calcium oxide nanocatalyst and its combination with diesel fuel to improve fuel properties

Abstract

In this study, biodiesel was produced from goat fat in the presence of calcium oxide nanocatalyst. For this purpose, the surface characteristics of the nanocatalyst were investigated using different analyses such as FE-SEM, TEM, TGA, BET, EDX-MAP, FTIR and DLS. The BET analysis showed that the catalyst was mesoporous. Also, the DLS analysis indicated that the average particle size of the catalyst was 25 nm. In addition, the effect of different parameters such as methanol to oil ratio, temperature, catalyst content and reaction time was investigated on the biodiesel production. The best condition for producing biodiesel that led to the biodiesel yield of 93.72% was 70°C, methanol to oil ratio of 12:1, the catalyst content of 1 wt.% and reaction time of 3 h. Moreover, the reusability of the catalyst was investigated and the results showed that the catalyst can be used after three cycles with a biodiesel yield of more than 80%. After that, the produced biodiesel was blended with diesel at the ratio of B25, B50, B75 and B100 in the optimum conditions and the properties of the biodiesel such as pour point, cloud point, flash point, viscosity and density were measured. The obtained values were compared with international standards like ASTM D 6751 and EN 14,214. The results showed that the biodiesel cannot be used in cold weather.

Keywords

• biodiesel
• goat fat
• calcium oxide nanocatalyst
• transesterification