Planar Inter Digital Capacitive Sensor for Real time Transesterification Progress Monitoring of Karanja (Pongamia) Oil

Abstract

Transesterification is a well known chemical process of producing biodiesel from edible and non-edible oils, animal fats and cooked oils. Base catalytic transesterification of non-edible oil is a popular method for production of biodiesel. Biodiesel production from Karanja or Honge (Pongamia pinnata) seed oil is gaining momentum in India and other parts of world. The real time monitoring of transesterification reaction progress is essential step towards automating biodiesel production. Two planar inter digital capacitive sensors (IDCS) are fabricated for the purpose of monitoring the transesterification progress of Karanja oil and their performance are evaluated. The repeatability and sensitivity of fabricated sensor is reliable and acceptable. The sensor with associated signal conditioning circuit will be useful in automating the biodiesel production process and play vital role in energy efficiency and the quality of end products.