ANALYTICAL METHODS USED IN THE PRODUCTION AND FUEL QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF BIODIESEL

Abstract

Biodiesel, an alternative diesel fuel derived from vegetable oil, animal fats, or waste vegetable oils, is obtainedby reacting the oil or fat with an alcohol (transesterification) in the presence of a basic catalyst to give the correspondingmonoalkyl esters. Two major categories of methods besides other miscellaneous ones have been reported in the literaturefor assessing biodiesel fuel quality and/or monitoring the transesterification reaction by which biodiesel is produced. Thetwo major categories comprise chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. This article considers the various methods ineach category, including advantages and drawbacks, and offers suggestions on selection of appropriate methods.