Application of Taguchi Experimental Design for the Optimization of Effective Parameters on the Rapeseed Methyl Ester Production

The optimization of experimental parameters, such as catalyst type, catalyst concentration, molar ratio of alcohol to oil and reaction temperature, on the transesterification for the production of rapeseed methyl ester has been studied. The Taguchi approach (Taguchi method) was adopted as the experimental design methodology, which was adequate for understanding the effects of the control parameters and to optimize the experimental conditions from a limited number of experiments. The optimal experimental conditions obtained from this study were potassium hydroxide as the catalyst, at a concentration of 1.5 wt %, and a reaction temperature of $60^{\circ}C$. According to Taguchi method, the catalyst concentration played the most important role in the yield of rapeseed methyl ester. Finally, the yield of rapeseed methyl ester was improved to 96.7% with the by optimal conditions of the control parameters which were obtained by Taguchi method.