OPTIMIZATION OF BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM CASTOR SEED OIL USING BIFUNCTIONAL HETEROGENEOUS CATALYST OBTAINED FROM UNRIPE PLANTAIN PEELS AND PERIWINKLE SHELLS DOPED WITH METAL OXIDES

ABSTRACT

The study conducted developed a composite heterogeneous catalyst; from periwinkle shells and unripe plantain peels doped with Nickel and ferric oxides for biodiesel production through the transesterification of castor oil. The catalyst was synthesized the wet impregnation method, and was characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, TGA and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) analysis. The effects of parameters affecting the catalytic reaction, reaction temperature (40–60 °C), reaction time (60-90 mins), catalyst loading (1–3 wt%), and methanol- to-oil ratio (6:1–18:1) were investigated. This study aimed to use Response Surface Methodology (RSM) modelling tool to optimize the biodiesel production process. From the optimization, the methanol/oil ratio of 12:1, catalyst loading of 3 wt.% at temperature of 60 ℃, and after a reaction time of 75 minutes gave maximum biodiesel yield of 85.6% for transesterification reaction using doped catalyst.