ABSTRACT
Crude neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) oil (CNO) is one of the important oils used for the preparation of biodiesel. The main advantage of CNO is that it is non-edible and is obtained abundantly in nature from neem seed. The present work analysed the reaction parameters like molar ratio, catalyst concentration, mixing intensity and reaction time for optimum production of biodiesel experimentally and through mathematical analysis. Initially, biodiesel has been prepared through transesterification reaction with methanol in the presence of 7% non-specific enzyme catalyst Novozyme 40013 (Candida antarctica) maintaining 6:1 molar ratio of methanol to CNO, 60 °C temperature and 500 rpm of mixing intensity for 6 hrs of reaction duration. 93.52% biodiesel was obtained. The reaction parameters identified experimentally are better analysed with the help of triangular fuzzy number. Thus the reaction parameters have been defuzzified using the total λ-integral value and weighted mean concept. Defuzzification of reaction parameters with high, medium and low range of values have been analyzed in our study. It has been observed that the exact values of reaction parameters from the range of values of experimental data have been identified by defuzzification. So the concept of defuzzification can be applied further in other sources of biodiesel production which helps to identify exact reaction conditions and maximum conversion of alternative sources of energy.
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