Corrosion Behaviour of Mild Steel in Biodiesel Prepared from Ghee Butter

In this this, biodiesel samples were produced from Ghee Butter (popularly called Mann Shanu in Northern Nigeria) which was obtained from a local market in Yola Northern Nigeria. The Ghee butter was purified in order to get rid of its moisture; it was then reacted with alcohol in esterification reaction to reduce free fatty acids (FFA) and subjected to trans-esterification reaction to produce biodiesel. Two samples (1 and 2) of biodiesel having percentage yields of 41.5% and 39.5% respectively were produced. The physical properties of biodiesel samples produced were compared to those of mineral diesel sample and it was observed that the biodiesel samples exhibited close values to the mineral diesel. Sample 1 exhibited higher viscosity at lower and higher temperatures compared to sample 2. The American petroleum institute (API) gravity for all the samples studied including the mineral diesel was 34.97. The heating values were 37.15, 36.50, and 43.80 MJ/kg for samples 1, 2 and diesel respectively while the cloud points obtained for samples 1, 2 and diesel were 5, 6 and -3C, respectively. An accelerated corrosion study of mild steel in the prepared biodiesel was investigated for thirty days using the conventional weight loss measurement method. The analysis of the results obtained showed that sample 1 was more aggressive to this material compared to sample 2, while diesel was least corrosive. At lower temperature, sample 2 was more corrosive than sample 1. The results obtained from this study show among other information, that the physical and chemical properties of the prepared biodiesel samples were closely matched with those of mineral diesel and the former can be used as alternative for mineral diesel.