Methanolysis of Jatropha Oil Using Conventional Heating
Abstract
Studies were carried out on the transesterification, also called methanolysis, of oil from the Jatropha curcas L. with methanol using conventional heating for the production of biodiesel. All reactions were carried out in a batch-stirred reactor and in the subsequent separation and purification stages. The high free-fatty acid (FFA) level of Jatropha oil was reduced to less than 1% by a two-step process. The first step was carried out with 12% w/w methanol-to-oil ratio in the presence of 1% w/w HCl as acid catalyst in a 2h reaction at 343K. The second step was carried out with variable parameters: temperatures at 318K and 333K, initial catalyst concentrations at 0.5% and 1.5%, methanol:oil molar ratios at 4:1 and 6:1, and reaction times at 1h and 2h. Gas chromatography analysis was used to determine the fatty acid profile of crude Jatropha oil. Methanolysis of Jatropha oil used the catalysts NaOH and KOH. The high FFA level of Jatropha oil was reduced from 6.1% to 0.7% after the first step process. The highest yield of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), however, was achieved at 92.7% in 2h at 4:1 methanol:oil molar ratio, 1.5% w/w KOH, and 333K reaction temperature. This method produced biodiesel that met ASTM’s biodiesel standards. Results showed a density of 0.8g/ml that is within 0.86–0.9kg/l standard range and a kinematic viscosity of about 4.1cSt that is within 2–4.5cSt standard range. The flash point of the biodiesel samples fell between 169oC and 179oC while the cloud point averaged at 6oC.References
2. H. Lu, Y. Liu, H. Zhou, Y. Yang, M. Chen, and B. Liang: Computers and Chemical Engineering 33(2008): 1091–1096.
3. S. Shah and M. N. Gupta: Process Biochemistry 42(2007): 409–414.
4. N. O. Tapanes, D. G. Aranda, J. M. Carneiro, and O. C. Antunes: Fuel 87(2008): 2286–2295.
5. A. K. Tiwari, A. Kumar, and H. Raheman: Biomass and Bioenergy 9(2007): 569–575.
6. H. J. Berchmans and S. Hirata: Bioresource Technology 99(2008): 1716–1721.
7. K. Addison, 2006 (URL: http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodies el_glycsep.htm1 Date Accessed: 18 May 2009)
8. B. A. C. Chan, L. A. C. Chua, M. B. Eliseeff, and S. A. Roces: Proceedings of ST (2009).
9. Y. Rathana, S. A. Roces, F. T. Bacani, R. R. Tan, M. Kubouchi, and P. Yimsiri: International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering 8(2009): S5.
10. DPNS/DOE QS 002:2007. (URL: http://www.doe.gov.ph/popup/dpns Date Accessed: 8 March 2008)
Copyright holder for articles is ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering. Articles published in ASEAN J. Chem. Eng. are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.
Authors agree to transfer all copyright rights in and to the above work to the ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering Editorial Board so that the Editorial Board shall have the right to publish the work for non-profit use in any media or form. In return, authors retain: (1) all proprietary rights other than copyright; (2) re-use of all or part of the above paper in their other work; (3) right to reproduce or authorize others to reproduce the above paper for authors’ personal use or for company use if the source and the journal copyright notice is indicated, and if the reproduction is not made for the purpose of sale.