Development of a Predictive Model for Parametric Standardization of Methanol Recovery from Transesterified Oil

Abstract

The biodiesel production process is carried out world over by using methanol and a suitable catalyst. Methanol is highly toxic and hazardous to nature hence it is beneficial if methanol is removed from Biodiesel before its use. The present study on Development of a Predictive Model for Parametric Standardization of Methanol Recovery from Transesterified Oil was carried out with major emphasis on maximum recovery of methanol from biodiesel before separation of glycerol. The standardized parametric conditions for highest recovery of methanol as predicted by the model are temperature of distillation as 90 0C, vacuum pressure as 121.5 mm of Hg, time of distillation as 27.8 min. and circulating water temperature through condenser as 10 0C. The model predicted 28.7 g methanol recovery at above condition. The predicted value of methanol recovery was found close to the actual amount of methanol recovered (28.8 g) at the optimized parametric conditions indicating high accuracy of the developed model. The recovery of methanol has been found significantly affected by distillation temperature, vacuum pressure and time of distillation.