A Pilot-Scale Study of Waste Vegetable Oil Transesterification with Alkaline and Acidic Catalysts

Biodiesel is a renewable diesel fuel produced from fats and oils. Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) is an important feedstock for biofuel production. WVOs availability as wastes from restaurants, workplace canteens and residential users and their utilization will reduce environmental pollution. In the present work, WVO has been transesterified in a pilot plant under different conditions. The assessment of the parameters affecting the biodiesel conversion factor has been investigated, namely catalyst type and concentration and alcohol concentration. In order to maximize the yield of the process and to obtain biodiesel with lower specific gravity, an optimization process has been carried out.