Project Director

Harris, Bradley Jordan

Department Examiner

Bhosale, Rahul; Kode, Venkateswara Rao

Department

Dept. of Civil and Chemical Engineering

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Biodiesel is one current area of interest as a replacement for traditional diesel fuel. Benefits of biodiesel include that it can be derived from renewable resources, and it possesses properties similar to that of traditional diesel fuel. Biodiesel is often produced through a catalyzed transesterification process, which involves the use of a catalyst to aid in the conversion of triglycerides into alkyl esters. A method called the transesterification double step process (TDSP) was researched and used in this project due to the success seen using this method for the conversion of waste cooking oil to biodiesel. In this project, four basic catalysts were used at two different reaction temperatures to produce biodiesel, with waste cooking oil being used as the feedstock of interest. New cooking oil was also used to produce biodiesel under the same conditions used for the conversion of waste cooking oil. Three experiments were performed for each set of unique reaction conditions, for a total of 48 experiments conducted. Various testing methods were used for characterization of the final biodiesel products, with results allowing for the relationships between biodiesel quality and catalyst choice, temperature, and feedstock to be determined.

Acknowledgments

I would first like to thank God, as my faith in Him has sustained me throughout my entire thesis process. I also want to acknowledge and thank the UTC Chemical Engineering faculty. I want to thank my thesis director Dr. Bradley Harris, for providing me with valuable help and guidance throughout both the entirety of my thesis process and my time as a student at UTC. Finally, I would also like to thank my friends and family for their constant love, support, and motivation.

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

5-2025

Subject

Biodiesel fuels; Biomass energy; Catalysts; Transesterification; Waste products as fuel

Keyword

Biodiesel; biofuel; waste cooking oil; catalyst choice

Discipline

Catalysis and Reaction Engineering

Document Type

Theses

Extent

i, 42 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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