TRANSESTERIFICATION OF WASTE COOKING OIL USING ANTHILL AS CATALYST

Anthill was successfully used as catalyst for the production of fatty acid methyl esters from waste cooking oil. The anthill was wet beneficiated and calcined at temperature ranging between 600°C and 1000°C. The performances of the anthill catalyst at optimal calcination temperature of 800°C was studied at given reaction time of 1-3 h, reaction temperature of 60-70°C and at fixed methanol-oil ratio of 6:1 and catalyst loading of 7 wt %. The FAME yield of 64.12% was obtained for reaction time of 3hrs and temperature of 70°C. The raw and calcined catalysts were characterized using SEM, FTIR and XRF. The XRF shows that the anthill is rich in CaO, Na2O and Al2O3 nature of the anthill. The SEM gave a better morphological insight on pretreatment of anthill. FTIR and GC-MS confirmed the formation of FAME and its constituents respectively. This study revealed that anthill is a good catalyst for the synthesis of biodiesel from waste cooking oil.