A Study on Optimization of Biodiesel Production from Pongamia Oil

Due to the high rate of fossil fuel depletion and environmental concerns, the use of biodiesel as an alternative for diesel engines has gained its significance. Biodiesel can be produced by various methodsand a lot of researches are going on over the effects of performance, combustion and emission characteristics of engine using the biodiesel. This paper presents the transesterification of Pongamia oil into Pongamia methyl ester and optimization of the processes. The yield of biodiesel depends on the reaction time, reaction temperature and concentration of catalyst and molar ratio of alcohol. Optimization of each parameter is done keeping others a constant. The study shows that maximum yield was obtained when 0.2wt% of catalyst is used with 150% excess alcohol at 60o C for 2 hours. The biodiesel obtained is of high quality and can be used directly in the diesel engine without any modification.