To determine alkaline catalyst for the jatropha oil biodiesel production

Abdul Hafiz , Hashim (2013) To determine alkaline catalyst for the jatropha oil biodiesel production. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Jatropha curcas oil is an alternative feedstock for biodiesel production as it has more advantages than other crops. The aim of this study is to determine the best alkaline catalyst for the production of Jatropha biodiesel. In this study, Jatropha curcas oil was used as feedstock for biodiesel production through process of alkali-catalyzed transesterification. The transesterification reaction with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH) as catalyst was used to investigate the optimum conditions and to study the effects of variables on the reaction. These variables included methanol to oil ratios, catalyst concentration, cost effectiveness, reaction temperatures and reaction times. The parameter used in this study are methanol to oil ratio of 6:1, a catalyst concentration of 1.0% w/w of oil, a reaction temperature of 60°C and a reaction time of 40 minutes. NaOH catalyst has recorded production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas by 71.1% for sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 70.1% for potassium hydroxide (KOH). The results also shows that NaOH had advantages in cost effectiveness and amout of catalyst used. Jatropha biodiesel then need to undergo a few test to determine their fuel characteristic such as kinematics viscosity, and density. The test of Jatropha biodiesel shows kinematics viscosity of biodiesel with NaOH is 4.34 mm2/s while 4.31 mm2/s for biodiesel with KOH. The density for biodiesel with NaOH is 0.87 kg/l and for biodiesel with KOH is 0.89 kg/l. All the values were accepted for both kinematics viscosity and density.

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