Synthesis of Biodiesel from Crude

Palm Oil and Rubber Seed Oil-

Crude Palm Oil Blend

Siti Shafriena Mohd Afandi1, Yoshimitsu Uemura1, Suzana

Yusup2, Noridah Osman1

1
Centre of Bio-fuel and Bio-Chemical Research, Universiti Teknologi
Petronas, Perak.
2
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi
Petronas, Perak.
 Crude Palm Oil [CPO]
Malaysia accounting 1 hectare of palm oil can
for 87 % of the supply biodiesel that can
global net exports go up to 200,000 km.
of oils and fats.
Oil palm occupies 15
% of Malaysias
land area.

According to the Food

and Agriculture
Authority (FAO), Palm
oil is certified as
sustainably
produced.

Dr. Choo Yuen May, Dr. Harrison L.N. Lau; 2009. Palm Oil as Feedstock for Biodiesel; Production and export from Malaysia

2
 Rubber Seed Oil [RSO]
According to the Association of Natural Rubber Producing
Countries, Kuala Lumpur;

Malaysia has an estimated acreage of 1.2 million hectares of rubber

plantation in 2007 (Malaysian Rubber Board, 2009) which yield 1.2
million metric tons of rubber seeds annually.

One seed can yield 30-40% of oil. The unsaturated fatty acid is the
main component in rubber seed oil [f].

[f] A.S. Ramadhas*, S. Jayaraj, C. Muraleedharan (2005); Characterization and effect of using rubber seed oil as fuel in
the compression ignition engines. Renewable Energy 30 795803
.
Problem Statement
Blending of CPO and RSO can..

1. Increase the cold flow properties of CPO

2. Decrease too much dependency of CPO as

feedstock

3. Balance the edible and non edible oil

4. Utilized rubber seeds

4
 Objectives

1. To characterize RSO and CPO.

2. To find optimum operating conditions for

transesterification process of CPO

3. To study the individual effect of methanol to oil

ratio and catalyst concentration over

transesterification reactions of CPO.

4. To synthesize biodiesel from 10% and 30% RSO

blend in CPO (by volume).

5
 Methodology
Initial characterization Physical properties = acid value, free
fatty acid, density, water content,
average molecular weight
Free fatty acid composition

Oil was heated for 20 minute.

The weight of the oil was
measured

To reduce free fatty acid

Add hexane and warm water and left

for 24 hours

6
 Transesterification

FAME phase

Glycerol
phase

-Hexane and warm water is

One hour transesterification reaction added for clear separation
-24 hours phase separation
 Physical properties
Rubber Seed
Feedstock Crude Palm Oil
Oil
Palm oil mill Felda Imported from
Source Nasaruddin, Bota Perak, Vietnam
Malaysia
Acid value [mgKOH/g] 10.02 94.96
FFA [%] 3.91 33.79
Water content [mg/L] 577.8 2657.7
Density 20oC [g/cm3] 0.9165 0.9181
Average Molecular
831.66 837.504
weight [g/mol]

4 oC 60
o
C
Crude palm Rubber Rubber
oil seed seed oil
8
 Fatty acid composition
CPO RSO
Type Fatty acid C:D
[wt%] [wt%]
Lauric acid 12:0 0.25 -
Myristic acid 14:0 0.98 0.08
Palmitic acid 16:0 43.93 8.56
Saturated fatty Stearic acid 18:0 4.03 7.84
acid Arachidic acid 20:0 0.34 0.34
Behenic acid 22:0 0.06 0.18
Lignoceric
24:0 0.82 0.16
acid
Palmitoleic
16:1 0.15 0.18
acid
Unsaturated Oleic acid 18:1 40.07 24.27
fatty acid Linoleic acid 18:2 9.03 39.10
Linolenic acid 18:3 0.26 15.96
Erucic acid 22:1 0.08 0.11

9
 Calculation

FAME yield = CFAME / 3C0,OIL x 100%

CFAME = molar concentration of FAME in the

product

C0,OIL= molar concentration of TGs in the

feedstock

FAME content [according EN14103:

min 96.5%]

10
 Methanol to oil ratio
Experimental condition Experimental range
Temperature [C] 60
Stirring rate [rpm] 400
Reaction time [min] 60
KOH concentration [wt%] 1.0
Methanol to oil ratio [mol] 4:1 5:1 6:1 7:1 8:1

100 100

80 80

60 60
FAME yield [%] FAME content [%]
40 40

20 20

0 0
6 7 8 9 10 12 14 16
Methanol to oil ratio [mol]

FAME Yield [%] FAME content [%]

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 Mechanism of transesterification
The first step in the reaction mechanism involves protonation of
the carbonyl group of the ester by the catalyst, forming a
resonance stabilized complex, thereby converting it into a strong
electrophile. These protonated species will attack the weak
nucleophile, MeOH for a reaction to occur. [4][5] The
transesterification reaction between the protonated TG
molecules and MeOH occurs at the MEOH-TG interface.

Non-polar TG,
Polar DG, FFA Polar
MeOH MeOH
phase phase
FAME Glycerol
Glycerol

12
 Catalyst concentration
Experimental
Experimental range
condition
Temperature [C] 60
Stirring rate [rpm] 400
Reaction time [min] 60
Methanol to oil ratio
8:1
[mol]
KOH concentration [wt
0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
%]
100 100
80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20
0 0
FAME yield [%] FAME content [%]

Catalyst concentration [wt%]

FAME Yield [%] FAME content [%]

13
 Blending Effect
1. 10% RSO + 90% CPO
Feedstock
2. 30% RSO + 70% CPO
Experimental
Esterification Transesterification
condition
Reaction time [min] 60 60
Stirring rate [rpm] 400 400
Catalyst concentration 1.4 [potassium
3.0 [sulphuric acid]
[wt%] hydroxide]
Methanol to oil ratio
15:1 7:1
[mol]
100
Reaction temperature
60 60
[C]
80

60
FAME yield [%]
40 10 % RSO
30% RSO
20

0
6 8 10 20 30 40 50 60
Reaction time [min]
14
 Conclusion
The process managed to achieve optimum 98% FAME yield at 60 min
reaction time with 8:1 methanol to oil molar ratio and 1.6 wt% catalyst
concentration.

Crude palm oil with 4.0 % of free fatty acid is possible to undergo one
step transesterification without pretreatment acid-esterification step.

The blend of 10% and 30% rubber seed oil was found to decrease the
FAME yield.

More research should be done to maintain the high yield biodiesel

production while improving the cold flow properties of the crude palm
oil.

15
 Reference

1] J. H. Hashim, 2013. Palm oil as biofuel, the case of Malaysia.

Presented at the IOMs Roundtable on Environmental Health
Sciences, Research and Medicine: The Nexus of Biofuel Energy,
Climate Change and Health, Washington DC.
[2] Meher LC, Vidya Sagar D, Naik SN. 2006. Technical aspects of
biodiesel production by transesterification a review. Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews; 10 (3): 248-6
[3] Canakci, M. and J.Van Gerpen, 1999. Biodiesel production via
catalysis. Trans. ASAE Paper 42 (5): 1203-1210.
[4] Ataya, F.; Dub, M. A.; Ternan, M. Acid-Catalyzed 2007.
Transesterification of Canola Oil to Biodiesel fuel under Single
and Two-Phase Reaction Conditions. Energy Fuels, 21, 2450.
[5] MD. E. Hoque*, A. Singh, Y. L. Chuan, 2011 Biodiesel from low
cost feedstocks: The effects of process parameters on the
biodiesel yield, Biomass and Bioenergy, 1582-1587
[6] McMurry, J.1996. Organic Chemistry. 4th Ed.Brooks/Cole Pub.
Co.: New York

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