Experiment 5 - Preparation of Biodiesel From Used Cooking Oil Report PDF

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Attached is Lab report 5 for organic chemistry 2. I received a very high A with this report and hopefully it will help others write theirs. To my knowledge as of spring 2018, they have not changed the labs, so this experiment is up to date. ...

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Preparation of Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil Introduction As the market for fossil fuels continues to grow, environmental scientists have many growing concerns including climate change, pollution, and simply running out. Scientists have taken advantage of a similar, yet greener approach in preparation for a potential energy crisis: Biodiesel. Currently the technique for biodiesel does work, but is more costly than regular diesel with the difference being on average $1.73 (UNCTAD.org.)

Although Biodiesel may be renewable and healthier than regular fuel for the environment, it doesn’t make it necessarily the most humane choice. To produce biofuels to meet demands for every day consumers, there is not enough used/wasted oil for the conversion. Instead, some farmers grow corn and grains to be used directly for biofuels production. While this may not sound like a bad idea the USDA shows approximately 1 in 6 Americans, most with children, suffer from hunger. It was shown that between 2000 and 2004, the price for corn alone rose 26% in response to biofuel production and is expected to be 70% higher by 2020 (Runge C, 2007.)

Biodiesel is essentially taking new or used vegetable oil and cleaving the glycerin from the fat. This can be done by adding in methanol and a strong base to essentially tear apart the bond between the fat and glycerin; blocking it from reforming. Once the glycerin has been separated, the remaining portion is biofuel. In a separator flask, glycerol will sink to the bottom layer and the new biodiesel will be the top layer. This process is known as base-catalyzed transesterification; can be viewed in figure 1. In order to know how much base and methanol is required to accomplish this in used, impure vegetable oil, a titration is performed. The titration

consist of taking a sample of oil; using isopropyl alcohol for separation, measuring how much base is needed to make the oil basic. It is hypothesized that the percent yield will be fairly high...