Biodiesel, a renewable and substitute for petroleum fuel, is a useful source of energy. When burned, biodiesel produces a large amount of energy use in transporting vehicles and other applications, also creating less pollution to the environment.
With some techniques, we can easily transform used cooking oil into biodiesel. You can make an investment, by preparing cooking oil into biodiesel, through the help of the cooking oil recycling company.
- Collect Used Cooking Oil
Take a container and pour used cooking oil into it ensuring that the container is well dried and clean. Before selecting any container, check the presence of cracks, leaks, and tightness.
- Examine
In the examination procedure; check the presence of particulate in used oil. Also, check the appearance, whether it is darker as compared to normal oil. Used cooking oils, with a milky appearance, should not be preferred for the conversion process as such oils create intervention during the biodiesel conversion process.
- Filter
Heating Oil
Heating oil decreases the viscosity creating better fluidity; you can heat up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Follow safety measures while pouring oil to prevent the spillage; you can use safety gloves, aprons and, other precautionary measures.
Use coffee filters or cheesecloth to separate solid particulate from the used oil.
Reheating Oil
Reheat the filtered oil to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature can be recorded with the help of a cooking thermometer. Reheating of oil helps in removing water content from oil (useful for later conversions of the biodegradable process).
- Further Settlement for better Rectification
Allow oil to stand for an hour. This will help in settlement of water extracts from oil. Now, transfer the screened oil content into another container.
- Perform Acidification Test (Prefer Titration Method)
- Mix lye and Distilled Water
The ratio of lye to distilled water should be 1/1000. For example, you can add one gram of lye into distilled water.
Perform the above-given procedure in a well-ventilated room.
- Performing the Test with Isopropyl Alcohol
Take a separate container, and add one ml of filtered oil into the 10ml isopropyl solution. Stir the mixture until it shows clear mixture.
- Adding Phenolphthalein Solution
It will act as a pH indicator (on the base of 8.5). Put two drops of phenolphthalein solution in the oil and alcohol mixture.
Add 0.1 lye solution with another mixture (alcohol, oil and, phenolphthalein solution). Stop dripping the lye solution when the mixture turns pink or magenta color.
After checking the oil’s acidity, one can easily convert the rest oil into biodiesel using filtered oil, lye and methanol.
Also, you can take the help of oil recycling services for recycling and reuse of used oil into biodiesel. With this little investment, you can make a passive income.