Preparation and Characterization of Biodiesel Produced from Recycled Canola Oil

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the feasibility of using recycled canola oil as raw material to produce ASTM standard biodiesel. Two-step reaction, acid-catalyzed esterification followed by alkali-catalyzed transesterification, was performed. The high level of free fatty acids ( FFA) in the recycled canola oil was reduced to less than 1% by acidcatalyzed esterification with 40/1 molar ratio of methanol to FFA in the presence of 5% (v/v, based on FFA) sulfuric acid. Further alkali-catalyzed transesterification was carried out at 6/1 molar ratio of methanol to oil and 1% (wt%, based on oil weight) potassium hydroxide. The characterizations of produced biodiesel showed that it met the ASTM D 6751 with respect to the kinematic viscosity at 40 oC, acid number, flash point, water and sediment, cold soak filtration test, oxidation stability, free and total glycerin etc. At the same time, the properties of by-product crude glycerol, such as flash point, moisture by Karl Fisher, ash, glycerol content, were also characterized, which can facilitate further glycerol purification and expand its applications, thus enhancing the overall profitability of the biodiesel production process.