Biocatalytic production of biodiesel from cottonseed oil: Standardization of process parameters and comparison of fuel characteristics

Soham Chattopadhyay, Ankush Karemore, Sancharini Das, Asoke Deysarkar and Ramkrishna Sen

Applied Energy, 2011, vol. 88, issue 4, 1256 pages

Abstract: The enzymatic production of biodiesel by transesterification of cottonseed oil was studied using low cost crude pancreatic lipase as catalyst in a batch system. The effects of the critical process parameters including water percentage, methanol:oil ratio, enzyme concentration, buffer pH and reaction temperature were determined. Maximum conversion of 75-80% was achieved after 4 h at 37 °C, pH 7.0 and with 1:15 M ratio of oil to methanol, 0.5% (wt of oil) enzyme and water concentration of 5% (wt of oil). Various organic solvents were tested among which a partially polar solvent (t-butanol) was found to be suitable for the reaction. The major fuel characteristics like specific gravity, kinematic viscosity, flash point and calorific value of the 20:80 blends (B20) of the fatty acid methyl esters with petroleum diesel conformed very closely to those of American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) standards.

Keywords: Biodiesel; Enzymatic; transesterification; Process; parameters; B20; Fuel; characteristics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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