Although being collected from different sources, there was little
difference in properties among the WCO samples in terms of chemical
and physical properties. This could then assist the implementation
of biodiesel production process from waste cooking oils. In this
study, biodiesel production from the WCO was carried out in the
laboratory scale reactor. The results showed that the highest yield
of biodiesel was obtained at the ratio of methanol/WCO of 7:1–
8:1 during 80–90 min at temperatures ranging 30–50 C in the
presence of 0.75 wt% KOH. Although most of the physical properties
of the biodiesel were within standards for diesel fuel and for bioauto
fuels (EN14214), the carbon residue was much higher in the
biodiesel than in diesel. The carbon residue was 4.0 wt% for the biodiesel
but only 0.05 wt% for diesel. Furthermore, the volatility characteristics
of the biodiesel were much different to that of diesel as
clearly projected in the distillation curve. There was a very narrow
range of boiling temperature for biodiesel. The boiling temperature
remained approximately 330 C from 20 vol% to 70 vol% fraction.
Mixing the biodiesel with diesel improved significantly the volatility
and decreased the carbon deposits at a percentage of biodiesel in
the blends below 50 vol%. The results obtained showed that the
blend of 20 vol% the biodiesel and 80 vol% diesel (B20) could be applied
in engines without major modification.