OPTIMIZATION OF BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM WASTE COOKING OIL USING TAGUCHI METHOD

Large quantities of waste cooking oil (WCO) generated from restaurants and hotels are commonly disposed of without proper treatment, leading to potential environmental contamination.Converting WCO into biodiesel offers a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach for waste valorisation.The present study examines the transesterification of waste cooking oil for biodiesel production and aims to identify optimal reaction conditions that yield maximum biodiesel output with economic feasibility.Waste cooking oil samples were collected from local restaurants and used as the feedstock.Methanol was employed as the alcohol reagent, while potassium hydroxide (KOH) served as the catalyst, based on its proven effectiveness reported in previous studies.The influence of key process parameters-including methanol-to-oil molar ratio, catalyst type, reaction temperature, and reaction time-was systematically investigated.An L9 orthogonal experimental design was adopted to evaluate the effect of four factors at three different levels.The experimental results revealed that the optimal transesterification conditions were a methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 10:1, KOH as the catalyst, a reaction temperature of 65 °C, and a reaction time of 105 min.Under