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Biodiesel is a sustainable and renewable source of fuel. It has been considered as a comparable substitute to petro‐diesel, which is a fast depleting resource. Many studies have been undertaken on biodiesel production from various feedstock as a result of its importance. The differences between the physico‐chemical properties of biodiesel and petro‐diesel were considered with the aim of justifying the applicability of biodiesel in compression ignition engines (CIE). It was established that biodiesel has relatively close BTE (brake thermal efficiency) and BSFC (brake specific fuel consumption) values with petro‐diesel, hence, is suitable for CIE operation without any modification. The exhaust from CIE using biodiesel was lower compared to petro‐diesel and this confirms the environmental friendliness of biodiesel. The catalyst being an important substance in the transesterification reaction of vegetable oil/animal fat to produce biodiesel was comprehensively discussed, and heterogeneous catalysts were established to be preferred due to several advantages over homogenous catalysts. This paper reviews biodiesel production, prospects, benefits and challenges as a replacement for petrol diesel.

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Please cite this article as: Aladetuyi A., Olatunji G.A., Ogunniyi D.S., Odetoye T.E. Production and characterization of biodiesel using palm kernel oil, fresh and recovered from spent bleaching earth. Palm kernel oil (PKO) was recovered from spent bleaching earth with a yield of 16 %, using n-hexane while the fresh oil was extracted from palm kernel with n-hexane and a yield of 40.23% was obtained. These oils were trans-esterified with methanol under the same reaction conditions: 100 o C, 2 h reaction time, and oil-methanol ratio of 5:1 (w/v). The cocoa pod ash (CPA) was compared with potassium hydroxide (KOH) as catalyst. The percentage yields of biodiesel obtained from PKO catalysed by CPA and KOH were 94 and 90%, respectively. While the yields achieved using the recovered oil catalysed by CPA and KOH were measured at 86 and 81.20 %. The physico-chemical properties of the biodiesel produced showed that the flash point, viscosity, density, ash content, percentage carbon content, specific gravity and the acid value fell within American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifications for biodiesel. The findings of this study suggest that agricultural residues such as CPA used in this study could be explored as alternatives for KOH catalyst for biodiesel production.