A Novel Method for Monitoring the Transesterification Reaction of Oil in Biodiesel Production by Estimation of Glycerol

Abstract

Abstract A quantitative method is reported for the estimation of glycerol during transesterification of oil to form biodiesel. The reagent used to derivatize glycerol was 9,9‐dimethoxyfluorene. Glycerol is estimated by both UV–visible spectrophotometric and high performance liquid chromatography methods. Using the former method, detection limits of 0.05% w/w of glycerol in biodiesel was established. Validation of the developed method was done using the Greenhill method for determination of free glycerol formed during the transesterification reaction.