Activated Charcoal Modified with Chromium Oxide as Catalyst for Groundnut Oil Transesterification

A gradual shift to biofuels development was considered advantageous in reducing the pollution and other challenges associated with fossil fuels. Specifically, biodiesel production is one of those options prioritized in the literature. Herein, we demonstrated how a modified activated charcoal sample and chromium oxide can catalyze the upgrading of groundnut oil into fuel-grade biodiesel at the laboratory scale via trans-esterification with methanol. The charcoal-based catalyst was characterized mainly at mole ratio: 3:1 (methanol: oil) reaction time of 1hr and reaction temperature at 60°C . The yield of biodiesel produced were found 71.50% for activated modified charcoal, 59.30% for chromium oxide and 49.45% for charcoal only, which is a little lower than that obtained  by  some  researchers, and  the  density  was  found  to  be 0.56/cm3  for  active  modified charcoal,  0.43g/cm3  for chromium oxide and 0.33g/cm3 for charcoal only which is within the ASTM approved limits. The viscocity was found to be 3.39mm2/s, 2.52 mm2/s and 1.85 mm2/s for modified activated charcoal chromium oxide and charcoal respectively at 40°C . The free  fatty  acid  was  found  to  be  0.01%,  0.04%  and  0.02% for  modified  activated  charcoal,  chromium  oxide  and  charcoal respectively and the values are within the range approved by ASTM. The saponification values obtained were 0.56mgKOH/g, 0.84mgKOH/g  and  1.12mgKOH/g  for  modified  activated  charcoal,  chromium  oxide  and  charcoal  respectively. Trans-esterification  method  is  found  to  be  good  in  producing  by  biodiesel  from  groundnut oil as  corroborated  by  several investigations. 

Keywords: Charcoal Sample, Chromium Oxide, Activated Charcoal, Trans-esterification, Biodiesel