Citation

Santo, Istiyak Amin (2026) Life cycle assessment of biofuel production from waste cooking oil in Malaysia. Masters thesis, Multimedia University.

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Waste cooking oil (WCO) is a widely generated but underutilised waste stream in Malaysia. Its improper disposal pollutes waterways and clogs drainage infrastructure, while its conversion to biodiesel offers a pathway to displace fossil diesel and reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in marine applications. Despite this potential, credible deployment decisions remain constrained by the absence of a Malaysia-specific, cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) framework that accounts for real energy service, local process data, and actionable production-level optimisation. This thesis addresses that gap through three interlinked contributions. First, a cradle-to-grave LCA of WCO biodiesel produced via hydrodynamic cavitation assisted transesterification is conducted using primary laboratory data, the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) method in SimaPro, and a functional unit of 1 MJ useful shaft energy delivered to a Malaysian fisheries-boat engine. Second, carbon savings relative to fossil diesel and alternative biofuel pathways are quantified on a consistent basis. Third, a data-driven production-side optimisation framework integrating machine learning (XGBoost surrogate models, R2 = 0.924 for yield, 0.903 for energy consumption) and multi-objective optimisation (NSGA-II) is embedded into the LCA, and its outputs are deployed in a Streamlit-based web application. The baseline laboratory-scale pathway yields a cradle-to-grave GWP of 119.4g CO2-eqMJ-1, whichexceedsfossilmarinediesel (93.8 g CO2-eqMJ-1)owingtoenergyintensive oven drying on Malaysia’s coal-heavy electricity grid. Hotspot analysis identifies Stage 3 (Purification and Drying) as the dominant contributor, accounting for 38–72% of impacts across six midpoint categories, with oven-drying electricity alone responsible for approximately 56% of total GWP. Substituting industrial air drying reduces total GWP to approximately 51 g CO2-eqMJ-1, a 46% carbon saving over fossil diesel; further integration of the ML–NSGA-II optimised operating conditions reduces this to ∼47 g CO2-eqMJ-1 (50% saving), and HC reactor energy recovery brings the pathway toward the 33.2 g CO2-eqMJ-1 reported for industrial WCO biodiesel (60% saving). Production-side optimisation alone reduces production-stage GHGemissions by 10–12% and total life-cycle CO2 by 7–9% relative to the baseline. These findings demonstrate that process-energy reduction—particularly drying technology—is the highest-leverage improvement target in the WCO biodiesel pathway. The integrated LCA framework, supported by the open web tool, provides a transparent, reproducible, and policy-relevant basis for planning sustainable WCO biodiesel deployment in Malaysia’s fisheries and coastal energy sectors.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Additional Information:	Call No.: TP359.B46 S26 2026
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Biodiesel fuels—Environmental aspects
Subjects:	T Technology > TP Chemical technology > TP315-360 Fuel
Divisions:	Faculty of Artificial Intelligence & Engineering (FAIE)
Depositing User:	Ms Nurul Iqtiani Ahmad
Date Deposited:	10 Jun 2026 04:57
Last Modified:	10 Jun 2026 04:57
URII:	http://shdl.mmu.edu.my/id/eprint/16102

Downloads

Edit (login required)