INVESTIGATIVE STUDY ON COCONUT BIODIESEL PRODUCTION

Amarga, Anna Liza V.

Cacho, Lorraine O.
Iskak, Mashud A.
Usman, Geraldine T.
(March 2007)

Chemical Engineering Department

College of Engineering
Mindanao State University
Marawi City
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTRODUCTION

The world’s energy consumption is estimated to be 3.36 x 10 20 J per

annum and is projected to increase to up to 6.3 x 10 20 J in the year 2050.
Due to this high demand, energy shortage poses specific risks on the
transportation sector and some industries that are dependent on liquid fuels
such as diesel. This considerable demand for petroleum also implies
significant levels of air pollution. In the Philippines, Metropolitan Manila was
ranked as 2nd dirtiest city in Asia in 2002. Using an alternative fuel is one of
the options that could possibly solve these environmental problems, but the
extent of its environmental advantage is still to be studied and compared to
the conventional diesel. Different biofuels were already developed and used
in many parts of the world and the most popular is the biodiesel, which is an
alternative to petroleum diesel. Biodiesel can be obtained from tree crops
such as palms, coconuts, and olives. This creates great potential in the
Philippines since it can supply up to 60% of the world’s coconut oil market.
This study verifies this possibility of producing cocobiodiesel through
experimentation.

COCONUT BIODIESEL

The primary feedstock used for biodiesel production in the Philippines

is the coconut. The extracted coconut oil is transesterified using methanol
and sodium hydroxide as catalyst to form the coconut methyl ester and a by-
product glycerol. Methanol was chosen instead of ethanol due to its
availability, less expensive as compared to ethanol but provides same process
efficiencies.

The reaction of the coconut oil or the triglycerides with the methanol
is shown in Figure 1.

H2COCOR’’’ H 2COH CH3COOR’’’

NaOH +
HCOCOR’’ + 3CH3OH HCOH + CH 3COOR’’

+
H2COCOR’ 60oC H2COH CH3COOR’

Triglyceride methanol glycerol Biodiesel

Figure 1 Transesterification Reaction

2
 EXPERIMENTATION

Objectives:
1. To confirm the Jatropha Biodiesel procedure applicability in making
cocobiodiesel
2. To quantify the amount of biodiesel and glycerol produced

Apparatus:
The following apparatus are used as an alternative apparatus in the
Coconut Biodiesel Production in laboratory scale:
6 pcs 500 mL Beaker
1 pcs 100 mL Beaker
1 pcs 10 mL Pipette
Aspirator
2 pcs 100 oC Thermometer
1 pcs 500 mL Graduated Cylinder
1 pcs Stirring Rod
Hot bath apparatus
Cordless kettle
Beam Balance
All apparatus are available in the unit operation laboratory except
stirring rod and Cordless kettle. Stirring rod is borrowed from Chemistry
department however it has rent of 10% of the original price while cordless
kettle is brought by the student from Dormitory.

Chemicals used:
The raw materials used in this investigative study are:
10 grams NaOH Pellet (>95%)
500 mL Methanol (>99%)
2 Ltrs Refined Coconut Oil
The 10 grams of NaOH pellet and 500 mL of methanol are bought
from Chemistry Department with a amount of P 80.00 and P 210.00
respectively. On the other hand, 2 liters of Refined Coconut Oil is bought
from local store in the university.

3
Procedure:

1. Dissolve the lye into the methanol. Using a pipette, 55 mL of

methanol is transferred into a 100 mL beaker. 1.25 grams of
Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) is poured into a 100 mL beaker and then
it is stirred until all the lye has dissolved. This may take 10
minutes. It is normal that temperature rises. This mixture is called
sodium methoxide.

2. 250 mL of Coconut oil is measured by using Graduated Cylinder and

then transferred into a 500 mL beaker. The Beaker with Coconut
Oil is placed in the hot water bath that has a temperature of a
range 60-70 oC. When the oil reached 60 oC, sodium methoxide is
poured into the beaker and then the mixture is constantly stirred
until the reaction is completed for at least 10 minutes.

3. After 10 minutes of reaction, the 500 mL beaker is removed from

the hot water bath then it is allowed to cool at room temperature
and settle for at least 8-24 hours.

4. After settling, two layers appeared, the upper layer is withdrawn

from the beaker by decantation.

5. Using a beam balance, weights of biodiesel and glycerine are

obtained after decantation.

6. Procedure 1 to 5 is repeated for every trial made.

Data and Results:

There are three (3) trials made in this study. Physical appearances of
the results are shown in the Appendix B. The data & results for the three
trials are shown below.

4
 Trial 1

Raw materials
Vol. MeOH (mL) 55
ρMeOH (g/mL) 0.791
Wt. MeOH 43.505
wt. NaOH (gram) 1.25

Vol Refined Coconut Oil 250

wt Refined Coconut Oil 230.25

Product
wt. Biodiesel + wt Beaker 384.1
wt. beaker 166
wt. Biodiesel 218.1

wt. Glycerine + wt. Beaker 230.3

wt. Beaker 173.1
wr. Crude Glycerine 57.2

Trial 2

Raw materials
Vol. MeOH (mL) 55
ρMeOH (g/mL) 0.791
Wt. MeOH 43.505
wt. NaOH (gram) 1.25

Vol Refined Coconut Oil 250

wt Refined Coconut Oil 230.25

Product
wt. Biodiesel + wt Beaker 390.1
wt. beaker 164.8
wt. Biodiesel 225.3

wt. Glycerine + wt. Beaker 208.7

wt. Beaker 166
wr. Crude Glycerine 42.7

5
 Trial 3

Raw materials
Vol. MeOH (mL) 55
ρMeOH (g/mL) 0.791
Wt. MeOH (g) 43.505
wt. NaOH (g) 1.25

Vol Refined Coconut Oil (mL) 250

wt Refined Coconut Oil (g) 230.25

Product
wt. Biodiesel + wt Beaker (g) 324.25
wt. beaker (g) 122.5
wt. Biodiesel (g 201.75

wt. Glycerine + wt. Beaker (g) 214.9

wt. Beaker (g) 150
wr. Crude Glycerine (g) 64.9

Average Product

wt. Biodiesel (g) 215.05

wr. Crude Glycerine (g) 54.93

Calculation:

The weight of substance is obtained by difference using equation

below

(Wt. subs. + wt. beaker) – (beaker) = (wt. subs.)

Equation above is used in the illustration below.

6
 Calculation of the weight of Biodiesel for Trial 1:

(Wt biodiesel + wt Beaker) = 384.1

Wt. Beaker = 166
Wt. Biodiesel = 218.1

Other weight calculations followed the above illustration.

Material balance

Based on the chemical reaction in figure 1,

1 mole Oil = 3 mole CBioD = 3 mole MeOH = 1 mole Gly

Then,

mole CBioD = 1.01668

mass CBioD = 231.619

mass Gly = 31.2155

mass MeOH reacted 32.5846

mass MeOH in 43.505
mass excess MeOH 10.9204

The component & composition of the mass in and out of the

Transesterification reaction and decantion are presented in appendix A.

Observation:

Heat is liberated during the NaOH-methanol mixing. Upon stirring,

the mixture appears turbid, taking 10 minutes for complete dissolution. The
mixture is then added slowly to the heated coconut oil. Homogeneity of the
NaOCH3 –oil mixture is attained after 1 minute of constant stirring. Five
minutes later, the mixture released a pungent odor intensifying as it is
stirred.

7
 The new mixture is left for overnight settling. After such, it was
observed to contain two visible phases. The lower phase is called the glycerin
phase which is a mixture of excess NaOCH 3 and glycerol. The excess NaOH 3
is cloudy white while the glycerol is golden yellow with jelly texture. The
upper phase, on the other hand, is the biodiesel component with light yellow
color.
As compared to the refined coconut oil, the produced biodiesel is
lighter in color and less viscous by inspection.

Conclusion:

The applicability of the laboratory procedure for making Jatropha

Biodiesel in cocoBiodiesel production is consistent with the literature and is
validated by the results of this experiment. 250 mL of Coconut oil was
reacted with 55 mL methanol using 1.25 gram of sodium hydroxide as a
catalyst. After decantation, the average mass of cocobiodiesel produced is
215.05 with a weight percentage of 78.2. On the other hand, 19.97% of
glycerine phase is produced. The percentage of loss due to inefficient
transfer of fluid is 1.83%.

Recommendation:
The researchers recommend that the use of proper equipment in this
experiment is needed to avoid too much loss of mass of fluid during transfer
of fluid to other vessel. An example of the precautions that should be done
is in measuring the volume of fluid; hence appropriate vessel such as
graduated cylinder should be used. In weighing, suitable weighing devices
should also be used.
Further studies pertaining to cocoBiodiesel are highly recommended
such as study on determining its physical properties and study on its
efficiency as fuel in diesel engine.
Raw material sources should also be considered to economize the
production for the cocoBiodiesel become more commercially competitive with
the petrodiesel.

8
 Acknowledgement

The researchers would like to thank the following persons, Prof.

Madali for her heartily support when the researchers approached her to buy
some chemicals and rent stirring rod, ma’am Hilda Ricablanca for lending us
the apparatus used in this experiment and of course to our instructor, Prof.
Felizardo N. Tuazon, for making this research possible and for his great
encouragement.
We also extend our thanks to our parents for their never ending
support in our endeavor and also to our teachers, Prof. Honorina L. Lacar,
Prof. Brenda G. Cabanilla and Prof. Charita Amparado for their advises and
encouragement and to our friends and classmates for sharing us their
laughters and tears through thick and thin.
And lastly to ALMIGHTY GOD,