Abstract
The transesterification of waste cooking oils (WCO) with ethanol was investigated by means of potassium hydroxide (KOH) as catalyst. This work aimed to study the influences of catalyst concentration, temperature, ethanol to WCO molar ratio, reaction time, and stirring rate on the biodiesel conversion. Gas chromatography (GC) was used during the process of transesterification to determine the evolution of ethyl esters concentration with time. Biodiesel with maximum yield was obtained (92.5%) when 2 wt% KOH, temperature of 75°C, and ethanol/oil molar ratio of 11:1 were utilized.