Optimisation of Biodiesel Production Using Heterogeneous Catalyst from Palm Oil by Taguchi Method

Over the past few years, biodiesel has drawn much interest as a clean substitute for conventional diesel. However, not all fatty acid chains in the biodiesel synthesis process are converted to alkyl esters. The quality and output of biodiesel get affected by this phenomenon. To achieve the highest yield, the optimisation of biodiesel production is essential. Taguchi's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was applied in this work to maximise biodiesel yield using the L9 orthogonal array. This study produced biodiesel from palm oil by optimising the process parameters catalyst concentration (1.5–3.5 w/w%), methanol-to-oil ratio (6:1–12:1), reaction temperature (45–65 ℃), and reaction time (60–180 min). The experimental results showed a maximum yield of 95% at the optimised methanol-to-oil ratio of 12:1, a reaction time of 180 min, a reaction temperature of 65 ℃, and a catalyst concentration of 1.5%. ANOVA analysis reveals that reaction temperature has got the most significance on biodiesel yield, with a contribution of 72.62%. The physicochemical properties of the produced biodiesel have also been estimated.