Synthesis of Biodiesel from Panaga Oil

Biodiesel refers to a non"petroleum-based diesel fuel consisting of long chain alkyl
esters, made by transesterification of vegetable oil or animal fats, which can be used in
unmodified diesel-engine vehicles. Basically, biodiesel is originated because of
depleting in earth crude oil sources and environmental concern. So, biodiesel can be
considered as renewable replacement for petroleum-based diesel engine fuel. In the
study, the main objective is to synthesis biodiesel where the biodiesel will be extracted
from Penaga oil through in-situ method; reaction mjxture of penaga oil and alcohol
using acid-catalyst to produce biodiesel. Some parameters such as reaction temperature,
catalyst concentration and particle sizes are manipulated to observe the effects and get
the desired product with optimize condition. Literature review section discussed about
Penaga plant background, biodiesel production through conventional method and in-situ
method of transesterification, effects of each parameter; reaction temperature, catalyst
concentration and particle size respectively. Design of experiment being used is Taguchi
Method; L9 Array as it is provides uniformly distributed coverage of the test domain,
concise test set with fewer test cases is created, all pair-wise combinations of test set
created, simpler to generate and less error prone than test sets created manually and
reduces testing cycle time. Basically, the project jobs scope will be carried out are: 1)
Penaga Seed Preparation; 2) Oil extraction; 3) Acid Value; 4) In-situ Transesterification
and 5) TLC Qualitative Analysis. As conclusion, it is believed that this method is
feasible and Penaga could be commercialized as biodiesel feedstock considering the
optimum conditions for the variables and parameters used.