Abstract

Worldwide, the concern for environment, reduction in dependence on oil import and energy security are found to be three driving forces for shaping the pattern of technology development and searching for alternate energy sources. Biodiesel extracted from vegetable oil is one such renewable alternative under consideration. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of process variables on acid catalysed transesterification of Jatropha curcus oil. In acid catalysed transesterification, different variations of p-toluene sulphonic acid (1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 %) and reaction time (12, 16 and 18 h) were adopted with constant molar ratio of 24:1 methanol to oil at constant temperature of 60°C. The methyl ester yield varied widely in the range of 20 to 64 percent for the process variables adopted. It was found that acid catalysis can provide high conversion rates but much longer times are required than for alkaline catalysts.

Keywords: Acid catalysed transesterification, Jatropha curkcus and Biodiesel