2023ICERD8-C37 -- Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oil: A Sustainable and Innovative Approach Towards Fuel Sustainability

Biodiesel, a renewable and environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels, is gaining attention for its potential to reduce environmental pollution and dependence on non-renewable energy sources. One of the major sources for producing biodiesel is waste cooking oil (WCO), which is generated in large quantities in households and restaurants. This work designs and practically develops a novel biodiesel processing system from WCO that is optimized for large-scale systems. In particular, several factors affecting the processing operation are optimized and their optimal values are identified. Practical experiments were conducted using WCO collected from a restaurant in Beirut, employing the transesterification process with methanol and NaOH as the catalyst. The optimized factors, including a 9:1 methanol to oil molar ratio, a reaction temperature of 50-60°C, and a reaction time of 60 minutes, resulted in a 95.2% conversion of WCO to fatty acyl methyl esters (FAMEs) and a biodiesel yield of 96.4%. These promising outcomes validated the efficacy of the optimized biodiesel production factors implemented in the proposed large-scale system. The proposed system not only provides a practical solution for WCO management but also offers an environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach to biodiesel production. This initiative aims to raise awareness and motivate the adoption of sustainable and safe renewable energy sources.