Abstract

Almost all cities and towns in Papua New Guinea are producing tonnes of waste vegetable oils annually, mainly from industrial deep fryers in potato processing plants, snack food factories, fast food restaurants and institutional dinning facilities. These waste vegetable oils are directed to waterways, rivers and finally into the ocean which destroys the ocean shores and damaging the environment. With increasing population, not only the demand for cooking oil will increase but also the environmental problems caused by the waste cooking oil. Most brands of cooking oil that is used in Papua New Guinea are from locally produced palm oil. Palm oil consists mainly of triglycerides made up of a range of fatty acids and contains other minor constituents, such as free fatty acids and non-glyceride components. This composition determines the oil’s chemical and physical characteristics. This is an attempt to improve the waste vegetable oil’s chemical and physical characteristics that will allow the oil to be used as an energy source and at the same time reducing the associated environmental problems. It has been observed that the waste cooking oil can be converted into a useful energy source using the transesterification process. The converted fuel has been tested and found its performance to be equivalent to petroleum diesel.