| ABSTRACT |
Biodiesel or also known as methyl ester is usually produced by transesterification of vegetable oils, largely consisting of triglycerides, with methanol in the presence of strong alkali or acid. Generally, there are two accepted methods in biodiesel separation and purification process, wet and dry washing steps. The more conventional wet washing method is currently used to remove excess contaminants and leftover production chemical from biodiesel. However, the inclusion of additional water to the process offers many disadvantages of increasing cost and production time. Whilst it has been proved for some time that it is possible to meet the specifications by water washing. A highly polluting liquid effluent is generated as well as significant product loss can be carried out for retention in the water phase. Furthermore, emulsions formation when processing used cooking oils or other feeds with high FFA content can happen due to the soap formation. Therefore, dry washing with ion exchange resin can be used as a new alternative in the biodiesel production. This dry washing method is being used in industrial plants.
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