The research of factors affecting biodiesel production from oils

Fossil fuels are mainly used to meet most of the energy demand of the world. However, the known fossil fuel reserves are diminishing and the use of fossil fuels causes various environmental problems such as global warming, acid rains etc. On account of this reason, scientists have been studying on the subject of alternative energy resources for a long time. Biodiesel, an alternative diesel fuel, is made from renewable biological sources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. It is produced by transesterification in which, oil or fat is reacted with a monohydric alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. The process of transesterification is affected by the mode of reaction conditions, molar ratio of alcohol to oil, type of alcohol, type and amount of catalysts, reaction time and temperature and purity of reactants.In the present study, it is aimed to produce biodiesel from transesterification of oils obtained from some vegetables, grown in Turkey such as corn, hazelnut, sunflower, soybean and waste vegetable oils. The effect of the type of oils and catalysts, reaction time and reaction temperature, alcohol/oil molar ratio on the formation of ester was investigated. Biodisel samples were characterised to test their properties as fuels in diesel engines, such as viscosity, flash point, cloud point, pour point, density, cetane number and acid value.