Biodiesel, "an alkyl ester of fatty acid" and type of biofuel, can be used for fueling vehicles and can be produced via transesterification, the process of using the alcohol methanol along with a base catalyst (usually sodium hydroxide) to break down oils and fats that have many triglycerides into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and glycerol. The viscous triglycerides are broken down into ester bonds and free fatty acids (FFAs), which are not ideal for biodiesel synthesis because FFAs have high melting points, unlike FAMEs. Thus, biodiesel synthesis should be conducted in a manner that reduces the number of FFAs while having a high breakdown of triglycerides into ester bonds. Transesterification that involves alkali/alkyl (like the bases sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH)) as a catalyst can cause soap-FFA reactions, resulting in "emulsification" challenges (Cheng et al 2013) (Hasan et al 2017). KOH and NaOH both can cause soap formation if they interact with triglycerides and esters. Furthermore, KOH produces more soap that NaOH, but KOH also helped produce more biodiesel than that from NaOH at 0.2 mol concentration (Van Gerpen et al 2006). What are the effects of NaOH and KOH on the fuel value of the biodiesel produced over the course of eight weeks? If KOH is used to synthesize biodiesel, then the biodiesel's fuel value form KOH will be higher than that form NaOH. Although the research project is currently in progress, the anticipated result is that KOH better catalyzes transesterification (via causing more heat combustion of ethanol) than NaOH for producing biodiesel. The results' significance determines which catalysts are used to produce more biodiesel. This is because the amount of biodiesel produced can be used for daily life purposes like faster transportation without having to refuel automobiles as frequently.

Biodiesel fuel is a renewable and biodegradable fuel that is produced from a variety of sources, such as animal fats or vegetable oils. With its potential to replace petroleum diesel in engines, biodiesel can act as a cleaner and more environmentally friendly fuel. To create biodiesel fuel, a substance, like oil or fat, must react with a catalyst, which allows for a transesterification reaction, converting these substances into biodiesel fuel. Washington alone is home to over 4,000 coffee shops, and as a result, there is significant waste from discarding coffee grounds daily. Spent coffee grounds, the substance being used in this experiment, is a potential upcoming form of effective biodiesel fuel. In order to turn spent coffee grounds into biofuel, the oil within it must be extracted first. Oil is extracted using a method involving a solvent, Hexane, and following that, the oil is presented to two separate catalysts for comparison: KOH (potassium hydroxide) and NaOH (sodium hydroxide). Comparisons can then be made of what catalyst yielded the best fuel burn efficient level, depending on what catalyst the oil was presented to. This ultimately brings up the question of what catalyst is more efficient, in addition to how efficient spent coffee ground oil is as biofuel. Our goal is to answer these questions and contribute to the advancing research of using spent coffee grounds to produce biodiesel fuel. 

The rising impacts of climate change driven by fossil fuel consumption highlight the need for sustainable alternative energy sources, such as biodiesel. Biodiesel is a biodegradable diesel fuel made primarily from vegetable oil or animal fats. Currently, biodiesel production predominantly relies on vegetable oils, which contribute to over 85% of production costs and raise concerns regarding higher consumer costs and environmental sustainability. To mitigate this issue, this study examines the potential of using animal waste, specifically beef tallow,  as an alternative feedstock for biodiesel production. The United States produces 20% of beef in the world, leaving large amounts of waste that go unutilized. Instead of relying on plants and crops for biodiesel, which requires large-scale cultivation of crops like soybean and palm that contribute to increased greenhouse gas emissions, beef tallow offers a resourceful alternative due to its widespread availability. The production of biodiesel from vegetable oil and beef tallow is done through transesterification with the catalysts NaOH and KOH to facilitate the conversion of the fats to biodiesel. Upon synthesizing the biodiesel, a soda can calorimeter is used to analyze how much of the biodiesel is able to be burned and the amount of heat released from the reaction to determine the fuel value. The aim of this study is to evaluate the fuel value of beef tallow to determine its potential as a more viable alternative to vegetable oils for biodiesel production.