Abstract            Volume:11  Issue-6  Year-2023         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

The climate crisis is one of today's major challenges. One of the main causes is the increasing use of fossil fuels, responsible for GHG emissions. To overcome this difficulty, enlightened researchers have come up with alternatives among which biofuels, particularly biodiesel, taking pride of place. Indeed, biodiesel is a clean, and renewable fuel, produced from vegetable or animal fats using transesterification process. This study aimed to optimize the transmethylation reaction of unsuitable palm oil into biodiesel. The oil physicochemical characterization was carried out according to AFNOR standards. Pretreatment of the crude oil was carried out at 60°C. Transmethylation of the pretreated oil was optimized based on three key parameters. The results showed that the FFA content of the oil exceeded the threshold required for direct transesterification by basic catalysis. Optimum conditions for oil pre-treatment were: molar ratio MeOH/FFA = 24/1, %H₂SO₄ = 10.27 and reaction time = 90 min. Optimization of the oil transmethylation reaction was achieved with MeOH/oil molar ratio =6/1, %KOH= 1.51 and reaction medium temperature = 60°C. Thanks to its low viscosity, the biodiesel produced could be an excellent alternative to diesel. However, it would be wise to carry out preliminary tests on diesel engines first.

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