Production of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) from Ceiba Pentandra Using Microwave Assisted Technique and Benzyltrimethyl Ammonium as Catalyst

Being known as one of the most important source of energy, fossil fuel is definitely the most desirable one due to its great advantages and potentials. Unfortunately, as time goes by, people around the globe are aware of the fact that the total amount of the fossil fuel is depleting each day up to 2013. Nevertheless, the
circumstances somehow act like a 'wake up call' for another renewable and sustainable source of energy, which is named as Biodiesel. This is one of the latest
technologies that is currently undergoing massive researches since it is the most suitable to replace the fossil fuel in the future for the sack of the next generation. The idea of producing Biodiesel by using 2-step transesterification and conventional solvent, methanol and catalyst Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) and sulfuric acid, H2S04 respectively has been well established worldwide. Hence, this project is about to make huge modification; in which Ceiba Pentandra (Kapok seed oil) is still chosen as the raw material and methanol as the solvent whereas the catalyst will be
replaced by an amine based catalyst, Benzyltrimethyl Ammonium. Hence, the main purpose of the project is to discover the optimumparameters such as the methanol to
oil ratio, catalyst concentration, microwave irradiation time and temperature only by applying 1-step transesterification process only with the assistance of energy stimulant microwave technique. Based from the results, the highest FAME yield (89.81%) is obtained at the methanol to oil ratio is 14:1, 3% catalyst concentration, 70 degree Celcius for 2 minutes irradiation time. Furthermore, the application of
microwave technique has successfully reduced the reaction time as well as the total energy consumption for the transesterification process. Lastly, the properties of the FAME produced under the optimum parameters are characterized by using the international standard of Biodiesel (ASTM 6751 & EN 14214).