An Optimized Process For Biodiesel Production From High Ffa Spent Bleaching Earth

Biodiesel may be economical if produced from inexpensive feedstock which commonly contains high level of free fatty acids (ffa) as an inhibitor in production of methyl ester. in this study a two-step process for biodiesel production from high ffa oil in a batch stirred tank reactor (bstr) is developed. oil sample extracted from spent bleaching earth (sbe) was utilized for biodiesel process. in the first step, ffa of the sbe oil was reduced to 3.01% through acid catalyzed esterification following by another reduction to less than 2%. triglycerides resulted from both steps were transesterified with methanol (molar ratio 6:1) using an alkaline catalyst (1% wt/wt) to produce biodiesel. major fuel properties of sbe biodiesel were measured to comply with astm and en standards. therefore, an optimized process for production of biodiesel from a low cost high ffa source was accomplished.