Bio Fuels
Elizabeth Ehrlich
Fan Yan
Biofuels are a cleaner replacement for diesel fuels. Biofuels are mostly made out of fatty acids (which can be found in oils) and esters (which are in biodiesels). Biodiesels have become so popular due to their cleaner emission into the atmosphere; they break down to high oxygen percentages. Biodiesels are easily made by adding a base but need high levels of heat to lower the viscosity. In order to create biodiesel you must use an oil to extract glycerides. Then mix with an alcohol to separate the components and finally add a catalyst to speed up the reaction time.
Ln(v)=-BT+A where B is slope, find this by running the fuel through a spectrometer and finding the absorbance.
EQUATION
CH3ONa CH2OH+CH3OCOC16C20
Hazardous
Veggie oil, diesel, gas, kerosene, ethanol, and methanol are all flammable. Do not use near flame or high heats. Bases and additional chemicals can all cause skin and eye irritation. All products must be handled with gloves and ventilation hoods due to fumes and skin irritations. Must dispose of chemicals properly in case of mixtures that may react.
LIST
250ml beaker
50ml water
Hot plate
Ventilation
Methanol
10ml of veggie oil
2ml sodium hydroxide
Magic stir bar
Centrifuge tube
Transfer pipet
Fume Hood
Lighter
Steel Wool Burner
Universal indicators
Distilled water

STEPS
1. Prepare a hot bath in a 250ml beaker. Heat to about 57 degrees
2. Weigh a 25-ml flask. Add 10ml of vegetable oil and weigh again to find the oils mass.
3. Add 2-ml of sodium hydroxide and 1ml of methanol and place in magic stir bar and use O-ring stand to set up ventilation tube.
4. Transfer solution to a plastic centrifuge tube and centrifuge. Let sit for 10 minutes as the mixture separates.
5. Using the transfer pipet, draw off the top layer of biodiesel and move into a beaker. (make sure to leave a bit of the top layer behind to ensure that the top layer doesn’t become contaminated by the darker bottom layer).
6. Heat the biodiesel on a hot plate until about 70 degrees has been reached.
7. Weigh the biodiesel and use the ir spectrum to find the presence of carbonyl group and OH groups in the fuel.
8. Also find the density (viscosity) of the oil after the separation.
9. FOR CALORIMETRY TESTING
10. Fill beaker with 50ml water and record the temperature
11. Set up an iron ring stand, and wire gauze and evaporating dish.
12. Place biofuel in evaporating dish and place under wire gauze and place a little string into the fuel and light the string.
13. Record the temperature of the water after the fuel all has burned.
14. Use delta E=s*m*delta T
15. PROCEDURE FOR COLOR TESTING
16. Pour 125ml of ds water into filter flask and ad 20 drops of universal indicator.
17. Pour 10 ml of solution prepared in step 1 into a beaker and label it control.
18. Turn tap so the aspirator pulls air through the flask. (should see bubbles)
19. Without anything burning, allow the setup to run till the solution turns to a yellowish color.
20. Refresh the universal indicator solution and repeat the experiment with a burner filled with tradition diesel fuel. Place a piece of steel wool into a beaker and add the fuel.
21. Ignite the fuel and place under fume hood to capture fumes. Start timer and wait for the indicator to turn yellow.
22. Record the time.

FOR THE FIRST TASK
The first task performed is just creating the bio fuels. This should take about 45 minutes. One will have to mix the solutions and then centrifuge the fuel to separate the triglyceride and