ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Appl. Math. Stat.
Sec. Dynamical Systems
This article is part of the Research TopicHarnessing Optimal Control for Eco-Epidemic Stability: A Vision for Future EcosystemsView all articles
Optimization of Biodiesel Synthesis using Ultrasound and Mechanical Stirring Methods: A Comparative Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
- 2Henan Finance University, Zhengzhou, China
- 3Asansol Girls' College, Asansol, West Bengal, India
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Mechanical stirring (MS) and ultrasound (US) frequency are two key factors commonly used to reduce mass transfer resistance during the reaction between methanol (MeOH) and triglycerides (TG), facilitating the efficient production of biodiesel from various feedstocks such as rapeseed oil and Jatropha c. oil. In this study, a comparative model analysis has been conducted to evaluate the performance efficacy of optimum mechanical stirring (MS) and optimum ultrasound (US) frequency using rapeseed oil in biodiesel production. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses have been conducted using Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) and Partial Rank Correlation Coefficients (PRCCs) to identify the key kinetic and transport parameters influencing biodiesel yield. An optimal control framework has also been applied to regulate MS speed and US frequency over time to overcome initial mass transfer resistance between oil and methanol. The influence of mixing intensity on biodiesel conversion has been examined for different temperatures and methanol-to-oil molar ratios using mass transfer correlations for both MS and US frequency. Numerical results show that, at a MeOH:TG molar ratio of 6:1 and temperature of 50◦C, optimal US frequency achieves a maximum biodiesel conversion of 97.67% within 40 minutes, whereas optimal MS attains 95.32% conversion after 60 minutes. The results further indicate that ultrasound provides faster mass transfer enhancement and a superior production profile compared to mechanical stirring. This study addresses two key questions: whether rapeseed oil is a suitable feedstock for biodiesel production, and which mixing strategy, MS or US frequency, more effectively minimizes the mass transfer resistance over time.
Keywords: Biodiesel production, Latin hypercube sampling (LHS), mathematical model, optimal control theory, Sensitivity analysis(PRCCs)
Received: 28 Aug 2025; Accepted: 23 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ahammed, Roy, Li, Roy and Basir. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fahad Al Basir
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.