ABSRACT

Biodiesel from neem seed oil was produced using eggshell/Alumina, a bi-functional catalyst synthesised from the wet impregnation of eggshell and alumina via simultaneous esterification and transesterification. The results obtained from the bi-functional catalyst characterization reveals that the catalyst has active sites containing pores which are evenly distributed and reaches the micrometre dimension. The catalyst was also found to contain alumina and CaO an active oxide for transesterification. A manual three stages optimisation process was utilised in the simultaneous transesterification and esterification using the Eggshell/Alumina catalysts with the optimum of each stage used in the preceding stages. A biodiesel yield of 72.51% was obtained at the optimal conditions of 15:1 methanol/oil molar ratio, 9wt.% catalyst concentration and reaction time of 180mins at 60⁰C temperature while the acid value of 2.18mgKOH/g was obtained at the optimal conditions of 12:1 methanol: oil molar ratio, 9wt.% catalyst concentration and reaction time of 180mins at 60⁰C temperature (constant throughout the reaction).