The demand for automobile fuels is increasing every day which may be attributed to the depleting non-renewable energy resources. This has necessitated the need for an alternate fuel. Biodiesel is a cleaner burning fuel than diesel and is a suiTable- replacement which is produced from raw materials that are non-toxic , biodegradable and renewable. Alkali catalyzed transesterification is considered to be the best amongst all methods available for the production of Biodiesel from oil. Owing to the corrosion and re usability problems associated with the alkali catalysts like NaOH and KOH a novel Heteropolyacid (HPA) catalyst system, 35-35 Internally and Externally loaded Cs-TPA on SBA 15 was synthesized. A process for the production of Biodiesel from waste cooking oil has been studied and the reaction conditions that affect the yield and purity of product esters like the quantity of the catalyst and methanol, the reaction time and temperature were optimized. Kinetics of the reaction were compared with that of the conventional alkali catalysts and it was found that the proposed heteropolyacid catalyst system gave higher yields. The catalyst activity did not vary much even after reusing the recovered catalyst system up to six runs. The specific gravity, viscosity and Flash point for the waste cooking oil ester produced were measured and is found to be as per the ASTM standards.

KEYWORDS:Transesterification, Biodiesel,Waste Cooking Oil, Kinetics,HPA.