Tezislər / Theses

Babayev Natiq, Hashimova Afag 
Baku Higher Oil School 
Baku, Azerbaijan 
[e-mail], [e-mail] 
Supervisor: Elmar Asgarzade
 
Key Words: 
biodegradation, surfactant, detergent, waste cooking oil 
The term of Surfactant can be encountered in various fields from 
biological systems to health and personal care products including mineral 
and petroleum processing, food, and even in nanotechnology. However, 
surface-active agent is most popular on account of its solubility and cleansing 
properties which makes it ideal for household and industrial cleansing (Shah 
2013). In the daily life of human beings, these chemicals are utilized in 
massive quantities and eventually spread to different environmental 
compartments namely: water, sediment and soil. The most and foremost 
detrimental effect of surfactants (especially petroleum-based one) is on 
aquatic organisms since this substance has a considerable contribution to 

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the growth of microorganisms like algae which brings about undermining of 
the food chain of the mentioned creatures. Surfactant toxicity is transmitted 
to most animals by skin penetration and feeding. In addition to having a 
significant negative influence on marine life, CO2 gas, the principal cause of 
global climate change, is produced in large quantities each year during the 
manufacturing of petroleum-based surfactants (Yuan 2014). 
The manufacture of bio-surfactants using waste cooking oil (WCO) is 
proposed as a solution to the aforementioned issues. Green surfactants 
(driven from biomaterials) are excellent substitutes to petroleum-based ones, 
offering several benefits such as biodegradability, non-toxicity, and a large 
supply of the primary raw material. Additionally, the manufacturing process 
can be regarded as a renewable method. While by producing surfactants 
from WCO, CO2 emissions can be reduced by 47%, resulting in a reduction 
of 17 000 t CO2 emissions per year (Ivanković 2010). 
In the experiment conducted in the laboratory of Baku Higher Oil School, 
waste cooking oil collected inside the jar in home is filtered through paper 
and hand sieve is heated to about 60 C using a hot plate. Taking about 1:6 
mole ratio of WCO and methanol using 1w% KOH as a catalyst, 
transesterification reaction has been carried out in a 500 mL flask. After 
harshly stirring the reactants in first 10 minutes, using the magnetic stirrer at 
hot plate, reaction continued for about 1 hour stirred at constant speed. After 
the reaction, product is put into a separating funnel to separate dark glycerol 
from the bottom. Then warm tap water is used to remove excess methanol 
remaining inside the final product. The final product then was sent to a more 
advanced laboratory for determination of properties and anticipated results 
are as following (Utilization of waste cooking oil as raw material for synthesis 
of Methyl Ester Sulfonates (MES) surfactant, 2018): 
pH 
8 
Methyl ester yield 
88 % 
FFA Reduction 
30% 
Surface tension 
34.5 mN/m