CHED 72 |
| Reflecting the college-wide aspiration towards sustainability, we have converted frying oil used in the college kitchen to biodiesel (i.e. transesterification of triglyceride with methanol to form a mixture of fatty esters and glycerol), so that we can provide a fuel for lawn mowers on our campus. However, because of the manufacture's warranties only certified fuel can be used in the school's lawn mowers. This is the dilemma that many schools may have faced already as a gap between academic environment and real world requirements. According to National Biodiesel Accreditation Program (BQ-9000), there are 14 properties to be tested for biodiesel certification, such as residual water content, cetane number (equivalent to octane number for gasoline), and glycerin contents. We have decided to analyze our biodiesel based on the standard methods by ASTM (American Standards for Testing and Materials) in order to use our homemade biodisel on our campus; this means becoming an accredited biodiesel producer. As a first property to test, we are currently working on Free & Total Glycerol contents (ASTM D6584), using a gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector applying cold-on-column injection method. We will report the results of the analysis and the difficulties that we encounter to perform the industrial standard technique in an undergraduate academic environment |
|
General Posters
7:30 PM-9:30 PM, Sunday, April 6, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |