Process optimization for production of biodiesel from orange peel oil using response surface methodology

Biodiesel is found an effective alternative of petroleum diesel fuel as the properties of biodiesel are matching with diesel. However, biodiesel production is a time and energy consuming process which also increases the final cost of the product. Hence, to reduce the process time and energy consumption it becomes necessary to optimize the production process which can be done by conducting number of experiments. For reducing the total number of experiment for optimization researchers are using optimization tool. These tools give the optimal parameters with small number of experiments. In this scenario response surface methodology (RSM) gaining the publicity among all optimization tools. RSM not only reduces the number of experiments but also give the trends in which different parameters affect the final products. In the present research, orange peel oil is converted into orange peel oil methyl ester, and the process is optimized with the help of RSM. After optimization, it is found that the yield of OPOME is increased by more than 2% by using RSM.