Biodiesel Production from High Free Fatty Acid-Content Oils: Experimental Investigation of the Pretreatment Step

Biodiesel has the potential to become a suitable substitute for diesel fuel in the future. However, the reduction of production costs and finding a permanent oil source have remained the two main concerns for this green fuel. The production of biodiesel from acid oils is one of the ways to reduce biodiesel production costs. In addition, high free fatty acid oils are almost never categorized as edible oils. Consequently, this new material has a more reliable margin in debates concerning the security of food, compared to other oils considered in biodiesel production. By considering these important aspects of biodiesel production technology, this study investigates the pretreatment step of biodiesel production from acid oils. In this work, an oil with high free fatty acid content is selected and the main parameters in the biodiesel production reaction are investigated experimentally. The effects of methanol-to-oil ratio (in the range of 0.2 to 1.2 v/v), the amount of catalyst (in the range of 0.5 to 6% v/v) and time (in the range of 20 to 120 min) on the progress of the reaction are studied.