Week 7

This week, the group started calculations for how much KOH and methanol would be needed to create bio fuel. In order to do the calculations, we first met with Dr. Cairncross to discuss the chemical reactions that occur in the bio diesel process. The two main reactions are shown below:

FFA (free-fatty acid) + KOH ----> "soap"
TAG + 3CH_3OH ----> 3 FAME

After figuring out the two chemical reactions, stoichiometry was completed to calculate the mass of KOH and methanol that would be needed. The calculations are shown in figure 1 (if needed, zoom in to see the calculations more clearly, however, since this is not a major focus of the project, not much emphasis will be put in this section). Even though we are going to make one combined batch of KOH and methanol solution, the calculations provided insight of how much of each chemical should be used for a single batch of bio diesel.

Figure 1. Calculations of mass of KOH and methanol needed.

Finally, in the lab, we started measuring out various samples of the waste oil so that they would be ready for the bio diesel production process, which would happen next week. Two samples of each type of waste oil (unfiltered undewatered, filtered undewatered, and filtered dewatered) were measured out to ensure accurate results. Based on the amount of oil we had, it was decided that 100g of each sample would be necessary. Next week, we will begin creating bio diesel!