Techno-economical and energy analysis of sunflower oil biodiesel synthesis assisted with waste ginger leaves derived catalysts

Abstract

The present study was carried out to investigate biodiesel production via transesterification of sunflower oil employing heterogeneous catalyst derived from indigenous ginger (Zingiber Officinale) leaves. It also aims to compare the techno-economy performance of the ginger-based catalysts in 3 different forms viz. calcinated (CGL), activated by KOH (KGL) and NaOH (NGL). The plant-based catalysts were characterised by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The parametric effects on the biodiesel production such as reaction time, methanol to oil ratio and catalyst loading were investigated. The experimental result shows that 1.6 wt % catalyst, 6:1 M ratio of alcohol to oil, 1 h 30 min of reaction time with a speed of 200 rpm gave the best results. It was found that the KGL obtained highest biodiesel yield of 93.83% under optimum conditions. Subsequently, the specific energy and energy productivity of KGL catalyst was found to be 1.2728, 26.1544 MJ/kg and 0.0382 kg/MJ, respectively, per 1 L of biodiesel. Meanwhile, the renewable energy to non-renewable energy ratio for CGL, KGL and NGL is found to be 3.17, 4.01 and 3.67, respectively. A higher sustainable renewable energy-yield ratio and overall economical profit cost ratio are preferable for the biodiesel production process.