Biodiesel Production from Waste Frying Oil by Ultrasound-Assisted Transesterification

The production of biodiesel as renewable, easily biodegradable, and nontoxic alternative to fossil fuels is expensive when it is derived from virgin vegetable oils. In this study, waste frying oil was used to produce biodiesel by ultrasound-assisted transesterification. The reaction was carried out with methanol, and sodium hydroxide was used as catalyst. This method is an efficient, timesaving, and economically functional tool since the process can be carried out in a shorter reaction time, at lower temperature, and with a lower quantity of catalysts compared to other techniques. The biodiesel produced by this method was analyzed for its fatty acid methyl ester composition, density, moisture and volatile matter content, acid value, saponification value, iodine value, distillation curves, and cetane number.