Conference article

In biodiesel production; to use low cost feedstock such as rendered animal fats may reduce the biodiesel cost. One of the low cost feedstock is the chicken fat for biodiesel production. However; chicken fats often contain significant amounts of free fatty acid (FFA) which cannot be converted to biodiesel using an alkaline catalyst due to the formation of soap. Therefore; the FFA level should be reduced to desired level (below 1%) by using an acid catalyst before transesterification. For this aim; sulfuric; hydrochloric and sulfamic (amidosulphonic) acids were used for pretreatment reactions and the variables affecting the FFA level were investigated by using the chicken fat with 13.45% FFA. After reducing the free fatty acid level of the chicken fat to less than 1%; the transesterification reaction was completed with an alkaline catalyst. Potassium hydroxide; sodium hydroxide; potassium methoxide and sodium methoxide were used as catalyst and methanol was used as alcohol for transesterification reactions. The effects of catalyst type; reaction temperature and reaction time on the fuel properties of methyl esters were investigated. In terms of high ester yield; the measured fuel properties of the chicken fat methyl ester met EN 14214 and ASTM D6751 biodiesel specifications.

Biodiesel; Low cost feedstock; Chicken fat; Transesterification