Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12)
The feasibility of the production of quality biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil (UCO) in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Linta Aquillah Qalopui, Elisapesi Manson School of Science and Technology, Pacific Adventist University (PAU), 14 Mile, Sogeri Road, Port Moresby, NCD 121, Papua New Guinea. E-mail: lqalopui22@gmail.com Biodiesel produced from used cooking oil (UCO) has been investigated empirically in biofuel research and has been found to be a feasible product in many countries except Papua New Guinea (PNG). The aim of this study was to systematically investigate the feasibility of the production of quality biodiesel from UCO under normal climatic conditions of Port Moresby (POM) in PNG. Specifically, the quality of the biodiesel produced from UCO in POM was compared to the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) D6751 standards to identify optimal conditions. Two experiments were conducted in this study where the first experiment was a laboratory scale experiment that involved three tests against the climatic conditions of Port Moresby (POM) in PNG namely; potassium hydroxide (KOH) test, water in biodiesel test, and UCO and glycerin separation test, and the second experiment was a larger scale experiment in authentic settings that included the production of biodiesel from UCO collected in POM, and the testing of water content parameter from the biodiesel produced from UCO. The two-stage alkaline catalysed transesterification technique was used with methanol as alcohol and KOH as the catalyst under the normal reaction temperature depending on the climatic condition at the time of the production. Overall, results indicated high water content in the biodiesel due to high humidity in the PNG climate. In addition, the heavy phase and UCO mixture cannot be separated by gravity under the normal climatic condition in POM. Further testing indicated that decreasing the drying temperature leads to an increase in water content of the biodiesel which significantly exceeded the maximum limit of water content specified in the ASTM D6751 standard. Key words: Humidity, UCO, ASTM D6751, drying temperature, water content References 1. Atadashi, I. M., Aroua, M. K., Aziz, A. A., & Sulaiman, N. M. (2012). The effects of water on biodiesel production and refining technologies: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16, 3456-3470. 2. Ayoola, A. A., Hymore, F. K., Obande, M. A., & Udeh, I. N. (2012). Optimization of Experimental Conditions for Biodiesel Production. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 12(6), 130-133. 3. Barabàs, I., & Todoruţ, I.A. (2011). Biodiesel Quality, Standards and Properties. Retrieved from http://cdn.intechopen.com/ pdfs/23666/InTechBiodiesel_quality_standards_and properties.pdf 4. Gerpen, J. V. (2005). Biodiesel processing and production. Journal of Fuel Processing Technology, 86(10), 1097-1107. 5. Mittelbach, M., & Remschmidt, C. (2004). Biodiesel: The Comprehensive Handbook. Austria: Martin Mittelbach.
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