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ABSTRACT
Since vegetable oil can be used for biodiesel production either through the acid trans- esterification or the alkaline trans-esterification method. The difficulty with alkaline-esterification method of these oils is that they often contain large amounts of free fatty acids (FFA). These FFA quickly react with the alkaline catalyst to produce soaps that inhibit the separation of the ester and glycerin. The aim of this study was to produce biodiesel from waste vegetable oil (WVO) using acid trans-esterification method. Here, the waste vegetable oil contained 0.7% w/w free fatty acid and 1.5 mgKOH/g acid value. Subsequently the WVO was subjected to trans-esterification to biodiesel using sulphuric acid (H2SO4). The physicochemical properties of the biodiesel was characterized of flash point, cloud point, pour point, viscosity, saponification value, acid value and were found to be 1200 c, 130 c, -5 0 c, 1.5 mm2 /s, 0.92 mgKOH/g The biodiesel had properties more similar to the ASTM 6751-02 standard. The presence of functional groups in the biodiesel was studies using FT-IR spectrometer and It was found that the characteristic functional groups such as C=O, OCH3, and CH3 were present. Therefore, from the results obtained, the WVO can serve as an alternative for biodiesel production. Thus, this study supports the production of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil as alternative to the diesel fuel.
