Biodiesel synthesis from waste of animal fats and improvements of its properties

Investigation of alternative energy resources have been continuing rapidlybecause of increasing dependence on petroleum products, energy crisis andenvironmental issues. In this frame, biodiesel fuels are the emerging issue andalternative for diesel fuels.In this study, two step catalytic process for synthesis of biodiesel was studied byreacting waste animal fats with methanol. The temperature, amount ofmethanol, type and amount of catalyst are studied as parameters and changes inviscosity and flash point were measured. On the other side, it is tried to decreasethe pour point by addition of organic based metal additive substances.At the end of experiments, the maximum yield of %89 was obtained with %35methanol with respect to fat, at temperature 63±1 oC, 2 hours reaction time andby catalysing with %1 NaOH. Reduction of pour point was achieved by addingorganic based NiO, and MgO compounds to biodiesel at the ratio of 12 µmol/L.